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Just passing the time at work & watching Donnie’s speech to the WEF. It’s quite something. Telling a town full of German speakers they’d all be speaking German if it wasn’t for the US 77 million Americans chose him to lead the nation and represent them on the world stage. Mind boggling. That’s before you even mention the fact he operated the worlds biggest nonce ring

If you ask me - which nobody did - there's a wee bit too much "forward planning" in the way some folk are thinking about this window. Absolutely the club should be looking to the future in terms of signings and player development but there's also the here and now to consider. We've hovered between bang average and rank rotten this season and that's absolutely got to improve between now and May. Jack Milne, as referenced by Rico above, is a case in point. I think we'd all love to see a homegrown Dons fan excelling every week but he's been struggling a lot recently and we don't have the scope to take him out the team just now even though that might actually be better for his long-term development. Bringing in a loan player to challenge for his position for a few months might push him on but if it doesn't, it's another player we can use to give Milne a break. If Cameron and Morrison - and Olusanya and anyone else who comes in - improves us enough to get up the table and have another run in the cup then that's better than ploughing on with mediocrity just to hypothetically develop our own players.

They’ve got a soft spot for the Huns so I hate them but can coaches not see what the problem is here & how to prevent it?

Seconded. It would be saving them from another Dens Park 86. Who could play the Albert Kidds role in that scenario? Milanovic?

I'll be in Milan at the Winter Olympics

Ach you’d probably have been saying the same thing when Eddie Turnbull was keeping tabs on the loon Harper in Greenock in 1968.

It's a big anniversary for them this year though and they are on track to emulate it, out of the cup already. I'm as comfortable as I can be, of them winning the league, as it won't rid them of their FIVE top flight relegations and two administrations. Doesn't matter how bad we are, Hearts will always be shyte.

Aye, a good point. However, given that Knoester was just an illness, I'd have hoped that we'd just be seeing out the one game per week schedule with Polvara and Devlin as backup. Keeping the squad lean and getting as many minutes as possible into the existing squad. A loanee that's here to get first team football doesn't really fit with that. If he's not left footed, too, then it's simply a replacement for Milne. Milne is making mistakes still, but game time is massively important at his age, when the biggest component missing from his game is aggression (particularly in the air in the box). I'd be willing to overlook the mistakes for a young Aberdeen fan developing. Not so, an inexperienced loanee going back in the summer.

Touch of the Barbara Dickson & Elaine Paige song about that post. Of course, you're going to have to be of a certain vintage to get that one

I agree with pretty much every word. But we have previous form for this. McInnes-Glass-Goodwin-Robson-Warnock-Thelin. Every man so different from the next. There's no consistency there in selection. We abandon the plan, try short-term success, then go back to the plan again. We can't make up our minds. I can't help but feel Cormack is again looking enviously at Hearts. McInnes - experienced, knows the league, good at motivating the squad, has had some success before, and having a poor season at Kilmarnock hasn't stopped a very good league campaign so far at a bigger club. Who is the most similar type of manager in Scotland for Aberdeen to recreate that - Stephen Robinson. I also think it's personal for Cormack. He got rid of McInnes, and yet this will be the second time in four seasons in the top flight that McInnes has finished above Aberdeen. Hearts finishing above Aberdeen with McInnes in charge is a big problem for Cormack, especially if he does the unthinkable and wins the title. Why does Askou check the boxes but McGlynn doesn't? If McGlynn was Portuguese, 20 years younger and in his first season here, we'd be raving about him. It's not the slightest of glances. He has his fans in the boardroom, has been considered before, and is being considered now. Robinson is a good manager, that's the thing. He could actually be a successful Aberdeen manager. We would likely have to accept a horrible style of football, but let's not pretend there is not a very competent manager there. But, if we go with the - as you put it, the vision aligned coach - we're asking for time to get it right. We wanted to give Thelin time, and we did until we couldn't any more, but it wasn't all his fault, but will Cormack and the club accept their share of the blame? I think Cormack wants instant success this time and thinks Robinson will come in and lift the place (yes, just like that McInnes character) and paper over the recruitment/structure cracks we have. But here's hoping Lutz has others ideas.

As the markets have all bounced back you can probably suspect this is all about insider trading for his mates.

They wouldn't get more tickets anyway as we're unable to do so. Sure Rangers should have been entitled to 20% in the cup a few years ago, and Aberdeen explained they couldn't do it. I was suggesting cutting their tickets from the usual 1,600 they get now, because the 600 allocation we get down there is dreadful.

Also, if you get it right with a couple of anchor signings it’s amazing the difference it can make to others who are malfunctioning or just lacking confidence. I’m not entirely convinced we have a lengthy list of complete failures but we do have a list of players who aren’t currently performing.

What a shit time for a fitba match on a Saturday night. I take it it's on that Sports channel, hence the dumb time. Modern fitba is pish.

They can fuck right off with any more tickets

Far be it from me to direct you from a BBC article to a Daily Record one, but Scott Burns saying:- Also dismisses Robinson & McGlynn being preferred candidates, as per those tweets yesterday, but crucially doesn't rule them out being on the shortlist. My guess would be if we do approach them formally, then a deal has already been agreed informally. We all know how it works now, none of the youngsters even know the term "tapping up" these days, everyone has given up policing it. For now, until another name emerges that makes me go "Oh fuck aye", then I'm hanging my hat on Robert Klauß or John McGlynn.

Consider him a replacement in the squad for the now departed Dorrington and the injured Molloy & Tobers. Didn't we only have one centre half on the pitch against Raith?

Just don’t see it with Robinson. It doesn’t add up. We’ve done much to mold ourselves into a bigger and more ambitious club in recent years, major business focus, investment, improved game day experience, bigger squad, player trading model, planning around playing in Europe, director of football etc. Dave is also, like myself, living in American sporting culture, and Robinson isn’t his type. We are a bigger and more professional club now, with bigger goals and ambitions. Robinson is a step backwards. He’s had a little success, and I could be wrong, but I don’t see a progressive coach there with modern methodology. Does he even have a style of play that matches what lutz and Dave want? Both have said an appealing brand of football is required. It would almost be like hiring Goodwin again. But with a little more experience. It makes no sense to hire Lutz with his more world game experience, then hire from Dow the road at st mirren. The Motherwell checks the boxes, this guy does not. Neither does mcglynn. i’d even argue it would be slightly more more realistic if st mirrwn were where Motherwell are, fighting at the top end of the league, getting praise for their style of play etc. but they are not. I know they won the league cup, but I jus don’t think signing a manager from the team 3rd bottom of the league matches our philosophy and ambition. We chose not to hire Calvin Davidson when he had domestic success, I expect Robinson to get the slightest of glances before we hire a more glamorous coach and vision aligned coach.

If true this is fairly depressing

I think there’s absolutely nothing to Robinson or mcglynn. Is lazy and boring journalism, nothing to report so make shit up for attention.

My first thought when i heard the rumour was he could be good for Nisbet. My aging memory says he was quick, grafted his ass off and was generally a pain in the arse to play against everyone in the league. We all know there is a proper no 9 in Nisbet and Olusanya is the kind of player who could potentially create the space and opportunity he needs. I would be at peace with signing him 2bh (sorry Al)

And no offence to you old friend but you are far too much of an addict to ever give it up and you know it . You saying this is like Jute saying he's not going to go to a game we all know he's going to but he's just not admitted it to himself yet.

Doesn't excuse no pre-contracts, or loans with agreement to purchase. We managed to sign players in January every other year, it's not beyond us. Loans are a choice, and one we've seen before.

Other accounts now saying mcglynn is the leading contender so probably safe to say that no-one has a clue.

Hopefully if he is walking, by the time he gets here, we have appointed someone else

Possibly also need to factor in the fact that January is a notoriously poor window to shop in. Populated with over-priced, underperforming charlatans. We might just be avoiding wasting too many sovs in this window knowing the next rebuild will be better delivered in the summer?

He's definitely being considered, whether he's now the front runner I don't know. Putting two and two together, the reason he's been so angry in his recent interviews is because he's seeing his chances of getting it dwindle with every defeat. Olusanya also feels like a Robinson signing, but again I'm speculating. Had to laugh at the tweet that started tonight's gossip though, which said it'd be a "huge coup". Trust me, he'd walk to Pittodrie for the job.

Look on the bright side, maybe he is always inspired by playing at Pittodrie

Well that would be completely contradictory to the setup of the club. The sporting director makes the signings, the coach coaches them. Not making signings just because we don’t have a head coach doesn’t make sense. But then not a lot is making sense these days.

If you want to watch Scotland in a pub in Aberdeen, then you can. The council has granted licenses for the pubs to stay open.

I dont think Dave is doing a bad job, I don’t understand your strong dislike. I certainly understand your frustration with the current situation. Of course the club and Dave have made mistakes, that’s not abnormal in football, and has been acknowledged I think. football is an impossible business. Most clubs and managers fail. Most replace managers regularly, most don’t win anything. That’s the game. cormack has brought investment. A training ground. A director of football. Increasing playing funds. We’re signing players who played for ac Milan, man city, PSG, Liverpool, loaner from spurs, highly regarded youngsters, internationalists. I get many of these haven’t worked out but it’s much greater ambition than league 1 and 2, wycombe Stockport and the likes. I certainly think we can get better balance, and I think that has been acknowledged too. rangers and Celtic have been a mess this season, hearts have recently been a mess. We’ve signed managers, with the exception of glass, that while not always my choice, made sense. its always darkest before dawn, perhaps we’re close to the beginning of something special. We won a trophy last season, maybe luckily, maybe we repeat? Unlikely but I think we’ve got a man in charge who is fully invested, will spend, is ambitious, and wants success. That’s not easy.

Let's just say he wasn't everyone's cup of tea

Cormack would be alright if he just kept out of the football entirely, launched Stewart Milne into the Sun, renamed the training facility after Teddy Scott & stopped trying to cover his failings using local politics

Do any of the former AbMadders miss the wonderful insights of Red John, his superior knowledge of the game and foreign leagues, and his views on who we should be appointing? No? Nobody? Thought not. Anyway, I have no f****n idea as long as it is not Robinson from the current list of 'favourites'. Law of averages suggests we will get it right eventually

Agreed but there’s a whole bunch of cretins that must be supporting him / behind it.

There's no money to be made from helping the planet. If there was, then there would be no climate crisis.

Maybe he should focus more on reducing greenhouse gasses and the slowing/reversing the climate emergency to stop the ice caps melting, ergo stopping the baddies from getting through that way. But no, "drill baby, drill"

Koulibaly going full John Terry at the trophy presentation

Whoever wins the World Cup is gonna have to give it to the US anyway it is madness they are not being told to get to fuck with the banning pish

I wouldn't be adverse to McGlynn, and if he was 20 years younger with hair and minus the baseball cap, he'd probably be a shoe-in. I think McGlynn almost does himself out of big jobs because his face doesn't fit. He has that lower league gaffer look about him and that's how people view him. However, if Falkirk had decent strikers they'd be above Motherwell and Hibs right now. I hear the same thing from McGlynn most weeks that they had so many chances but couldn't finish. You do feel if the man had a budget he'd do very well. I met him in summer - which every potential Aberdeen manager should be doing to be honest - and can confirm he's a very likeable guy.

Bold line-up from Dundee

Fucking Sunday league pish!

Sensational from Aberdeen's admin

It could be weeks for McGinn according to a report on the BBC by Nick Mashiter.