ymip

Tremendous stuff Roddy. I think it's all the sweeter for us given the amazing journey we've been on over the past 21 years - unique, inspiring and never to be beaten. Gutted I missed yourself and Mantis on Saturday, we did manage to bump into Yngwie and squeeze a quick pint in before heading back up the road. Myself and the little fella will hopefully see you somewhere in Europe in July for a medicinal libation - thirsty work European football. Onwards and ever upwards....

Stonehaven Tifosi up and ready for 8:38 train South. 18 of us meeting up in city centre and then onwards to Hampden. Keep an eye out for ymip jr's flag - it's a cracker. This is our day - come on !!!!!

The wee radge giving it the the thumbs up behind the seething Tim in the gif above is ymip jr. Needless to say I'm vewy pwoud. The boy's rant is absolute class.

Tremendous. Need a lie down now.

Maatsen has signed for FC Den Bosch

I really didn't see this coming as I had it from a very reliable source from within AFC that although Dismals offered to double his wages that Birmingham had offered more than four times what the Dons were willing to cough up. Unless Brum deal came off the table this seems a very odd choice. Graeme has been a fantastic servant to the club and I would love to wish him well but I honestly feel that he has made a rather poor choice. The fact that I have to face an office full of gloating dandies tomorrow is making me feel a tad nauseous.

Ferguson rumour is a joke which ryanaldo appears to be in on. Heart stopped when I spotted B.McKay named in sky's rolling summary of Scottish transfers - turned out it was Barrie McKay moving from currant buns to roth ravers on loan. Looking forward to winding up a few dandies at work tommorrow over Shinnie phantom signing - sad deluded fools.

Great result. Bring on the 'tic.

This is not correct. Graeme came through the ranks at Dyce Boys Club which is the top boys club in Aberdeen. Boys who don't get picked up by Aberdeen ( ie Graeme and Stuart Armstrong) invariably end up at Dyce and/or Albion Boys Club. AFC have had a major review of their scouting having missed out on the aforementioned prospects. There's also a major gnashing of teeth going on at the moment given the fact they missed out on Ryan Gauld and John Soutar who grew up in AFC scouting zone.

Ryan is, easily, the brightest ICT prospect to emerge in the last 20 years. I would fully expect him to have the good sense to get another season or two under his belt before he departs. The fact that he wasn't drafted into the Scotland Under 21 set-up at the tail end of last season is an absolute disgrace.

Pedant alert: If it's a Bundesliga 2 side it's FSV Frankfurt rather than Eintracht who are Budesliga 1.

Same old, same old......

Don't believe everything you read on Wikipedia. Ayina scored five in seventeen games for Santander last season including four in last three games. Looks like Santander must have released him after they won segunda B (Spanish third tier).

CaleyD you clearly dislike Dougal intensely but in this instance he makes an entirely valid point. The annual shambles surrounding the release of our strips is frankly an embarrassment to both the club and Errea. Ymip jr has given up asking when it's coming out and has splashed his cash elsewhere. Every club in the league releases their strip ahead of the school holidays and pre-season. Clearly the commercial department (sic) at ICT know better. Defending the indefensible.....as per.

Baptie is definitely at ICT took about 30 seconds to confirm on his twitter account

This guy created a bit of a sensation a couple of seasons back when he scored two goals for 3rd division US Quevilly to knock Olympique Marsseille out of the quarter finals of the French Cup. Goals are on youtube. Quevilly lost final 1-0 to Lyon and Ayina came off the bench in dying minutes. Interesting to see how trial pans out.

Clearly none of us were present during the interview process but I'm assuming that the thrust of Hughes oratory master class was broadly along the lines of the media sound bytes we all heard after his appointment wherein we were assured (quotes from BBC website): "Terry has done a wonderful job, so I'll be taking on the mantle."........"I'm not going to change too much,".......yadda, yadda...."right good laddies"...etc,etc. Again, assuming this is what he told the board then I'd suggest they have grounds for a dismissal citing misrepresentation on Hughes' part. The scary part from my perspective is that I'm not entirely convinced that the board members have the footballing nous to appreciate what he's attempting to do in terms of deconstructing the high tempo pressing style of play adopted with such success under Butcher and replacing with this tiki-taka lite in our own box with the train wreck consequences we've seen to date. Assuming Iniesta and co are unwilling to swap Catalunya for the frozen North and the harsh reality that we are unlikely to attract players of their ilk on wages south of £1,000/week it would appear sensible to play to the strengths of the players we currently have under contract. I received a text last week from a reasonably reliable source with no real interest in ICT matters who recounted a rather convoluted and long-winded line of dialogue allegedly emanating from Hughes along the lines that he didn't rate a lot of the players, too many lacked heart and he couldn't wait until the Summer to get some "proper" players in. Whether or not this is actually what was said by Hughes is a moot point, I would suggest that his actions/tactics to date would suggest that this is precisely his thought process. The last part in particular fills me with dread - letting Hughes free in the transfer window is akin to letting toddlers play with power tools. As much as the thought pains me I would imagine that messrs Dorran and Ross must be tidying up their CVs as we speak. They are clearly surplus to requirements in the Hughes era and despite both being "right good laddies" are pretty much redundant given his proposed tactical (sic) game plan. Call me crazy but that's kind of how I see it...

It's a results business John.......your results to date make Davie Moyes look like a managerial demi-god. With a bit of luck there might be a job more befitting of your skillset opening up in the Leith area shortly.....

I've steered clear of posting on CTO since I voiced my severe concerns at Hughes' appointment and was criticised for not giving the bloke a fair crack of the whip. Well, we've now had a fair dose of him and I believe it's apparent to all but the happiest of happy-clappers that Hughes is clearly the wrong man for the job. Hughes inherited a team sitting second in the league with points and games in hand with confidence sky high. Fast forward a few short months and we've seen the team implode in front of our eyes. Poor tactics, bizarre team selection and the trademark inane/incoherent post match comments have become the gut wrenching norm. I was at Tannadice on Wednesday night and it's clear that certain players ggare scared to do anything positive - rather than direct attacking drives into space they repeatedly check inside and pass sideways or backwards. John wants to play like Barca but we have a squad who are "good honest laddies" who we know can be extremely effective if we stick with the tactics adopted in the first half of the season. Poor Billy was clearly knackered, lacking confidence and in dire need of a break. Others appear emotionally fragile and likewise in need of a rest. Alas, Yogi seems incapable of reacting to factors which are clear to us mere mortals. The sequence of passes which lead to United's second goal on Wednesday was nothing short of footballing suicide. We were playing a team with their tales up comprising some of the nippiest players in the league, as such it would be no disgrace for us to keep it simple at the back and avoid a repeat of the Scottish cup quarter final debacle. Clearly this doesn't fit with the Hughes ethos and we see good honest pros exposed by the tactics enforced by Hughes. Poor Nicky Ross started almost every game under Butcher this season but Hughes doesn't seem to fancy him at all despite the repeated media platitudes. He insists on playing three players (Drapes, Tansey & Vincent) who are grafters but don't offer a great deal of creativity or service to Billy. He then expects them to pass like Iniesta.....utter madness. Mark my words if Hughes is in the hot seat next season we will be fighting relegation come May. He shouldn't have got the job in the first place, his negative tactics cost us a League Cup win and are ripping the heart and soul out of the side. I just hope someone in the inner circle has the guts to hold his hands up and admit that a mistake was made and a change is needed - sooner rather than later.

59 pages of varied debate and opinion on this topic alone would suggest the forum and its 'democracy' is not the issue. The issue - as always - is a difference of opinion, a difference of opinion that could not happen if your comments were correct. Sorry, but even after 20 years of existence, slagging off the forum still pushes my buttons on occasion. Confused,Who is the 35 year old you are referring to ? I believe that would be Richie Foran .... and yes, I could see him doing his badges in that time and being the next ICT manager. Scotty, I wasn't slagging off the forum I was having a go at the folk on here who freak out whenever anything is posted which could in any way construed as critical of the club - they immediately close ranks and start greeting about it. I'm not having a go at the pro-yogi camp's right to voice their approval but they should dry their eyes when others voice their views which are every bit as valid as their's. I've made my position on this appointment abundantly clear and will leave it at that.

Hartley, Ian Murray, Ian Cathro (google him), Kevin McDonald (long shot admittedly), Billy McKinlay (another long shot), Eric Black (ditto), Davie Weir, basically anyone young, dynamic and with a progressive approach to the modern game. As much as I was against the idea I'd even have preferred Robbo back with a suitable assistant.

I live and work in Aberdeenshire and have, as expected, had a steady stream of Aberdeen fans in and out of my office all days in a state of bewilderment at this appointment. Despite the usual wind ups a lot of Dandies I know have a bit of a soft spot for us and the universal view is that this is a regressive step for a club in our current position. I wholeheartedly agree with them for once. I sincerely apologise if my comments upset the sensibilities of the happy clappers on here but I was under the impression that this was a forum where supporters were afforded the opportunity to voice their opinions in a democratic manner. Apparently not.... A massively underwhelming appointment and anyone suggesting otherwise is kidding themselves on.

An absolutely inexplicable appointment from our esteemed board. In some ways you've got to take your hat off to them for managing to assemble an international array of stellar managerial talent (their words not mine) and then contrive to appoint the hapless Yogi. Way to go guys. Let's be brutally frank here, Yogi has done absolutely NOTHING in his career to warrant making even the short list for a club sitting second in the SPFL. Undeniable fact of the matter - anyone suggesting otherwise is deluding themselves. I personally await tomorrow's press conference with the excitement of my kids on Christmas Eve. I'm not sure what I'm looking forward to more; Yogi's oratorial master class or Kenny Cameron's attempts to roll this turd of an appointment in glitter. Good times..........

Sheils out!

CaleyD - you may have picked up on the fact that I don't fancy Sheils for the gig. I've had the misfortune of listening to his histrionics on Radio Scotland on numerous occasions so my previous comments are simply my personal opinion on the guy. I don't see how this constitutes misrepresentation. Graham Speirs is one hack promoting Sheils' appointment and there have been several others singing his praises. To me his cringeworthy rants are manna from heaven to these guys. They want him back in work as his pantomime dame act gives them plenty to write about. I don't want him at ICT but as I'm merely a punter expressing my opinion on a supporters forum I seriously doubt the powers that be or Mr. Sheils will be losing sleep over my thoughts on the matter. I kind of thought that was the purpose of a forum......