ascender

Unless things change drastically, I can't think of another manager I'd rather have in charge at the moment. We need to continue to win the SPL and there's no-one who knows how to do that better than Smith imo.

His family are still down south aren't they which I don't think bodes well for keeping him up here long term. I think he personifies that old adage of "a model pro" and is very dignified with it. Personally I'd like to see us trying to keep him on in some role, possibly as a defensive coach and I'm guessing his general influence around the younger players would be a good thing too. Mike.

I'm sure there's agendas at play here Frankie, but the pieces today certainly seem to be a notch or two above anything that's been written previously. BD - I don't buy the 100M nonsense for one minute. But even looking at 30M, the figures just don't add up surely with some of these stories talking about very large figures of money being required by the bank asap. Why would the bank be trying to get back large repayments on what is a going concern, I thought there was a repayment plan and a business plan in place and agreed? At least that's what we get told by one side, then we get stories like this one and comments from Walter which would suggest the exact opposite.

Had a look at FF and David Edgar has posted a few times basically saying that from what he can ascertain, the info in King's articles today is correct. What's really confusing me is our exact debt level. What is it in total as the figures being suggested for repayment seem to be way in excess of what I thought the club owned. Is this a sign that we are more tied in to the MIH side of things than we though?

No idea what to say, for the last 6 months or so I've learned to just sit back and wait as there's been so many rumours from sources that the only thing I'm sure of is that I don't know who to trust anymore. The above sounds like a loophole which means avoidance rather than evasion, so how does that play from a legal point of view I wonder?

Its all just one big game of poker/chess at the moment. We've been looking favourites for the league for a while now, so maybe Lloyds haven't been keen to settle with anyone before it was confirmed, due to the potential CL cash? Its a lot of guaranteed income so is only going to push the price up I guess no matter which side of the table you're on.

This was brought up months ago and people reckoned CL money would have no bearing on the deal, but all of a sudden it seems to be the big issue. Surely with recent CL figures available, any bid would easily be able to include two offers, one based on CL involvement and one without. I'm just going on the basis that no news is good news at the moment. Mike.

Definitely needs to be the first team for the last home game I'd have though, so then I guess its whether Walter's pride in beating Celtic gets the better of any thoughts he may have to make a load of changes and give some of the fringe players a couple of games in the starting XI.

I think when we signed him Walter admitted that he'd been playing out on the left at Burnley but that it wasn't his natural position and that he would try to avoid playing him in that role here. Its strange, because until a couple of weeks ago I really saw nothing at all in him. Now, not only has he scored a couple of very well taken and vital goals, he's also beating players out wide which is something he just looked incapable of until recently. Maybe he's a player who thrives on confidence and we'll see a lot more from him now if he continues to play through the middle? Its a difficult one though because he's been absolutely rank rotten pretty much since joining us and you can't just forget that, but the flip side to that argument is that he has been playing out of position. I thought he was for the off in the summer, but maybe his recent starts through the middle are also a sign that he'll be leading the line next year and confirmation that Boyd will be for the off. Whatever, massive props to the guy for sticking in and now producing the goods.

Great statement from Bain who I think has improved immeasurably in his public comments about the club and fans since SDM moved aside.

We'd be doing well to get 5M for Wilson, but I'd hope that we can get him to sign a new contract on the basis that he's nothing to lose by doing so and could give us a stronger hand when selling him, or that someone who buys him is happy to loan him back to us for a season or two.

I think McGregor has the ability to pull off the absolute top-drawer wonder saves that Alexander doesn't. However, as an all-round keeper, I'd rather have Alexander between the sticks to be honest. I think he's more solid, a better distributor of the ball and commands his area better. I think McGregor's game has improved this season, but he still seems prone to lapses of concentration. I think Alexander has been tested in the SPL and Europe since being here and has never let us down. Not sure what more you can ask for in a deputy. Certainly in my lifetime we've been spoiled by the goalkeepers we've had. I just think if we lose Bougherra and that money goes to the bank, we'd be mad not to look to sell McGregor if the funds would be made available for investing in the team as we have a tailor-made replacement in Alexander.

I'd be happier if we moved on someone like McGregor. He should command a fee which could buy 2 or 3 other players and I think we have a more than capable replacement in Alexander.

I can't see how replacing Weir will suddenly make us a force to be reckoned with in Europe. My first choice would be for a Bougherra and Webster partnership next season, but if we do have to go with Weir, I still think we would have bigger problems in our team selection tbh. Just my opinion though. In an ideal world, we wouldn't be having this conversation I guess.

I think he's been the best signing we've made in a long time tbh. Just a shame we didn't sign him 10 years ago. If Bougherra is for the off after the WC, then maybe it is worth another season for Weir, alongside Webster and swapping with Wilson for some games. There have been times where I've felt we've played far too deep and I thought that was because of Weir's pace, but with hindsight I think it was more down to games where our midfield weren't in control. For the SPL and even in Europe, I think Weir's lack of pace is the least of our problems!

So much is up in the air at the moment that I think it could be a long transfer window. If a new owner doesn't come in, I think we have a few players we could move on to get a fee for which could then give Walter some money to spend. The amount of money we can hope to get might mean we need to sign the "best of the rest" from the SPL or possibly a couple of bosmans, but like Flying Hippo says, I'd hope we sign the right players for the right position.

Great news, well deserved for both of them.

There's definitely a handful of teams in the first division who'd be competitive in the SPL, although I guess a few of the current teams might not be in favour of more competition given how poor they are at the moment. The SPL regs are a joke anyway, we've all seen they'll make exceptions when they feel like it and there's still games called off despite the requirement for undersoil heating for example.

I've never understood the reasons behind the split and every season it gives some teams an unfair run-in. Personally I'd like to see a bigger league, there's more teams out there who would compete against the majority of the SPL week in, week out. Division 1 is very tight and competitive these days and I think playing teams twice in the league would be a good start. Problem is that any sort of league reconstruction isn't going to be an overnight solution to the quality of football on display, but the current setup is verging on the mental, so surely it would be a good first step?

What's even better about all of this is that they've wasted a lot of money this season on players and staff to get absolutely nothing back for it. As for Ross County, they played superbly and thoroughly deserved the win. There's a few teams like them in Scotland at the moment who play a very open and attacking style of game no matter who the opposition, time left in a match etc. Particularly against Hibs, you saw how they didn't resort to just humping the ball up the park.

He's having a great season which makes it all the more annoying and disappointing that he was so poor for us. There was an age-old argument which said that he played much better when surrounded by better players, but I'm sure that's true for most footballers. He liked to publicise himself as "Mr Rangers" so he brought some of the pressure and expectations on himself I'm afraid. Mike.

The SPL is our bread and butter, so we must concentrate on that 100% at the moment, particularly with our finance problems. Going forward, I think the only way we can look to compete (whatever that means) in Europe and grow the playing side is by continuing to bring players through Auchenhowie while supplementing them with some older, more experienced guys like Davie Weir who are maybe coming to the end of their career. Add in the odd purchase in the 3M region of someone like Davis as well as the best of the other SPL players and you have the basis of a squad who are capable of winning the SPL each year. Obviously this should be supplemented with an extensive scouting network for youth players covering the Eastern Hemisphere with a view to actually bringing them through to the first team instead of rotting in the reserves before being flogged on a few years later. Having these younger players coming through, with a view to being sold on at some point after they've established themselves in the first team would also go some way to bringing revenue in. Walter is already part of the way down the road to this model in terms of younger players, albeit probably wasn't his choice to do it in this fashion. Personally, I think this is the only way we can ever hope to grow the club. We need to accept we're a selling club and I'd hope that any owner looks at youth as the way forward for us both on and off the park. But then you get to the question of the manager and coaching staff. Are they the best people to take us forward if we're looking to bring more young players through? Walter has done an amazing job, but is he willing to commit 5 more years or so to try and take us through a potential new era if we get a new owner and face up to the new financial realities? We're all aware of some of the criticisms of Smith during his time here before and this time round, but are those valid or is it just a problem of supporters needing to adjust their expectations, in European competition in particular? One good thing that has happened during the down-sizing is that we now have a strict wage structure in place and you'd hope that this (along with the general focus on finances) would stand us in good stead if we can just find a new owner. Mike.

I thought the main complaint under Eck was that we were playing two attackers in wide positions rather than playing two wide midfielders or wingers out there. There's a big difference IMO, to playing 4 in the middle, two central with two wide players and wingers, than playing with guys like Novo, Lafferty or Naismith in a kind-of winger, kind-of striker, kind-of attacking midfield role etc. In recent times, we seem to have a problem with playing guys out of position. Arveladze was criminally wasted out there (especially when you look at his goal-scoring record for other clubs when being played through the middle) for example and Lovenkrands was a complete waste of space. Its not so much the formation as the players we use in that formation.

No shit sherlock. I don't know why Aberdeen fans have such high expectations given just how long ago it was when they were successful. I think Jimmy Calderwood was doing a good job considering what was at his disposal. McGhee doesn't help himself at all though, some of his comments have been priceless, just how stupid is he? Mike.

I can understand why any of our players would be thinking twice about re-signing with us just now given the uncertainty off the pitch.