2018 Summer recruitment

[seeyazander]

On you last point, they might have a point, but how often do we have over 20,000 all singing and creating that atmosphere?

It’s not the stadium that creates the atmosphere, it’s those that go.

On a previous point I made, use any transfer funds to strengthen the team with flair and exciting players, this will in turn put bums on seats which will create a better atmosphere.

[afc1903mad]

I don’t think folk would dismiss Heneghan as he’s done well here in the past for Motherwell.
The only thing folk would be p1ssed off at is if Scott McKenna is seen to be sold too cheaply without any haggling like Rod Petrie would do for example

We SHOULD be selling young players every couple of years for chunky fees.
If the Dhims are forced to do it, then who are we to turn down millions?

I totally agree.
McKenna is far from the finished article, he has however made significant progress in the last year.
I had heard Aston Villa were in terested and with Steve Bruce, a very good CH himself, and moulded Harry Maguire into a decent CH at Hull, I thought they might be able to persuade McKenna to move and develop down south.

Graham Potter, whilst my choice to replace McInness had he left, is still to prove himself and may not be the right manager to help develop McKenna.

Swansea have had a good parachute payment, so should have to pay up, but maybe the Alfie Mawson signing from Fulham means they have moved on.

[afc1903mad]

On a previous point I made, use any transfer funds to strengthen the team with flair and exciting players, this will in turn put bums on seats which will create a better atmosphere.

You would think, but even Fergie lamented our poor crowds when we were on top domestically and in Europe.

[seeyazander]

You would think, but even Fergie lamented our poor crowds when we were on top domestically and in Europe.

Thats a valid point, with a team like we had back in the Fergie days the crowds were averaging around 15k for a home game, at this moment in time our average isnt far below that, so we should try and look forward and see that a couple of decent signings year on year we would soon have a product on the field that would have the fans flocking in.
Its probably my biggest bugbear when I see the attendances at both Easter Road and Tyncastle outstripping ours.

[RedStarTorphins]

I totally agree.
McKenna is far from the finished article, he has however made significant progress in the last year.
I had heard Aston Villa were in terested and with Steve Bruce, a very good CH himself, and moulded Harry Maguire into a decent CH at Hull, I thought they might be able to persuade McKenna to move and develop down south.

Graham Potter, whilst my choice to replace McInness had he left, is still to prove himself and may not be the right manager to help develop McKenna.

Swansea have had a good parachute payment, so should have to pay up, but maybe the Alfie Mawson signing from Fulham means they have moved on.

Your last paragraph...

Mawson has left Swansea FOR Fulham... so Swansea ARE after a centre half.
They also sold Kyle Bartley to WBA.
They’ve got £24m in the bank from those two.

[Mason89]

You would think, but even Fergie lamented our poor crowds when we were on top domestically and in Europe.

So let’s fire the ones that do go on a shuttle bus to the middle of nowhere. That’s bound to put 10,000 on the gate

[Jussi]

Thats a valid point, with a team like we had back in the Fergie days the crowds were averaging around 15k for a home game, at this moment in time our average isnt far below that, so we should try and look forward and see that a couple of decent signings year on year we would soon have a product on the field that would have the fans flocking in.
Its probably my biggest bugbear when I see the attendances at both Easter Road and Tyncastle outstripping ours.

Celtic's average was around 22K in early eighties, With some below 10k home crowds. having said that , in those days there was a high proportion of locals who 'supported' either them or rangers for every few dons fans.
I wonder what the proportion is with youngsters nowadays , surely it must be getting better for local clubs everywhere.

[Jupiter]

I think kids from lots of places outside the Glasgow area are more likely to support teams like Real Madrid or Barcelona instead of the cheeks. That would never have happened 20 or 30 years ago.

[Brochsheep]

Your last paragraph...

Mawson has left Swansea FOR Fulham... so Swansea ARE after a centre half.
They also sold Kyle Bartley to WBA.
They’ve got £24m in the bank from those two.

Swansea Also just signed Barrie McKay for an undisclosed fee

[ragnarok]

Thats a valid point, with a team like we had back in the Fergie days the crowds were averaging around 15k for a home game, at this moment in time our average isnt far below that, so we should try and look forward and see that a couple of decent signings year on year we would soon have a product on the field that would have the fans flocking in.
Its probably my biggest bugbear when I see the attendances at both Easter Road and Tyncastle outstripping ours.

It would be nice if we could reach a point where 15k is a baseline for our home attendance. That would provide a much stronger financial base to compete for the league over the long term. The key isn't competing with the Glasgow clubs season to season as we'll never have the finances for that. Football is cyclical so we'll have peaks and troughs - we need to push our base level to a point where we have a decent chance of winning the league during our peaks.

As for our position relative to the Edinburgh clubs, it's hard to say who has the largest potential support. Edinburgh (and the surrounding towns) has a much larger population than Aberdeen, much higher than double. Aberdeen has the benefit of being the only major club in the North East and so the only real competition in Aberdeenshire are the h*ns and dhims. The conventional wisdom is that support from the city is poor. I don't know how we could actually verify this.