2018 Summer recruitment

[Kilgore trout]

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.

A decent chance of winning the league? The disparity between the finances of Celtic and Aberdeen make it virtually impossible to win the league right now. It's not really peaks and troughs when it comes to scotland. Even if the tims dip we aren't going to be able to compete over the course of the season to win the league. They have just bought a striker for 9 million and are partnering him with a guy who is potentially worth double that and we are being knocked back by some no mark from league one in England who we have bid 400k for. Behave !

[ragnarok]

A decent chance of winning the league? The disparity between the finances of Celtic and Aberdeen make it virtually impossible to win the league right now. It's not really peaks and troughs when it comes to scotland. Even if the tims dip we aren't going to be able to compete over the course of the season to win the league. They have just bought a striker for 9 million and are partnering him with a guy who is potentially worth double that and we are being knocked back by some no mark from league one in England who we have bid 400k for. Behave !

We can probably agree that our chances of winning the league in 14/15 or 15/16 were very small. What would it be in percentage terms? What if we ran either of those seasons with the same teams and players 10 or 20 times. Would Celtic win every time? I find it hard to believe that if we simulated the 14/15 season 20 times we wouldn't win it once or at least come incredibly close taking the fine margins into account. Even if we didn't win that league in 20 simulations, the point is that we were close enough that if you kept on running simulations we would win it sooner rather than later. Contrast with some of the other Dons sides of the past 20 years who probably wouldn't win the league in 1000 attempts.

I don't disagree with you - hence my argument that a 15k base line (i.e. minimum not average) attendance would be a good starting point if we want to have a realistic chance of ever winning the league. That's the point. We want the performance of the last 5 seasons to be our new baseline rather than a peak followed by years of struggling in the bottom six which has been the norm for the past 20 years with the exception of JC's management.

We don't need to be on Celtic's level financially to have a chance of winning the league. We just need to be close enough that the percentages are favourable over a given timeline. We've already made huge strides financially in the last 5 years. In 2013 I don't think anyone realistically thought we could challenge let alone finish 2nd three years in a row.

[NaeMairNeeps]

Sensible and measured post Ragnarok ... but careful noo ... the Happyclapper thought police will be on to ye .... the searchlights are on, and the your screen-name is trendin on Google

[rico94]

We have won 1 cup in the last 23 years,we should be looking to win more Scottish and League cups on a regular basis before thinking about challenging Celtic for the league.

[Don_Corleone]

BBC gossip today...

1) Swansea back in for McKenna
2) Milne says if McKenna leaves it’ll be for a few dwarfing our previous record sale.
3) mcInnes hopeful of getting a striker in before Sunday.

What is our record sale? £2m or something for Jess about 25 years ago? In today’s market he’d have been worth about £30m

[ragnarok]

We have won 1 cup in the last 23 years,we should be looking to win more Scottish and League cups on a regular basis before thinking about challenging Celtic for the league.

The only teams that reliably win cups are those with consistent league performance i.e. us in the 80s. Even Hearts winning 3 Scottish cups within 15 years can be seen as the fruits of a period in which they were consistently the third best team in the country.

Not really sure why winning cups and improving our league performance are mutually exclusive.

Also, I’m not talking about challenging Celtic this season, the season after or the season after that or any season in particular. I’m talking about the club being sufficiently resourced to maximise success on the future. You can only measure this over a prolonged period. The period between 1995 and 2013 is rightfully considered a dismal period for the club with a handful of bright spots. Clearly we all hope that the last few years reflects the new norm rather than a peak for the club. If we sustain the club where it should be i.e. finishing no lower than fourth even in a bad season, that will put us in a better position should the opportunity to win the league arise, which is effectively determined by Celtic’s performance.

It’s not about setting the goal of winning the league. It’s about creating the circumstances under which that isn’t a total pipe dream.

[Pacman1903]

We have won 1 cup in the last 23 years,we should be looking to win more Scottish and League cups on a regular basis before thinking about challenging Celtic for the league.

We need to start believing we can win every game we play. That would be a great start. At the moment we certainly do not

[RedStarTorphins]

BBC gossip today...

1) Swansea back in for McKenna
2) Milne says if McKenna leaves it’ll be for a few dwarfing our previous record sale.
3) mcInnes hopeful of getting a striker in before Sunday.

What is our record sale? £2m or something for Jess about 25 years ago? In today’s market he’d have been worth about £30m

I think McKenna will be gone after the scum game.
I’d imagine DM will already be thinking of a replacement.
My fear is Milne rolling over & accepting £3m or the likes.
£3m “dwarfs” £2m in his Alford head.
We have to be realistic.
We’re not going to get £8-£10m.
Players from Scottish clubs who don’t play for Celtic & in the Champions League just don’t. Fact.
Realistically, £5m with add ons for promotion to the EPL, number of games, & a 20% sell on clause will be best we’ll get.
At least £4m of that will go to Kingsford.
Co-incidentally £4m is the shortfall in the training complex.

I agree with the strategy of selling on young players for huge fees every couple of years.
As long as we negotiate hard like Rod Petrie does.
We’ve never really done that IMO.

[magictorch]

Daily Record reporting we're competing with Hearts for Greg Stewart.
Genuinely hope we miss out. He did little to nothing last season to merit a return either on loan or permanent.
If true it smacks of a lack of ideas and/or desperation.
Especially given McInnes comments regards last seasons recruitment following the semi-final defeat.

[RedStarTorphins]

Daily Record reporting we're competing with Hearts for Greg Stewart.
Genuinely hope we miss out. He did little to nothing last season to merit a return either on loan or permanent.
If true it smacks of a lack of ideas and/or desperation.
Especially given McInnes comments regards last seasons recruitment following the semi-final defeat.

Completely agree.
An overweight slow winger, who’s as slow as a week in Craiginches, is NOT what we need at all.
Like you say, suggests ran out of ideas & options.
Hopefully not true & the Daily Retard is making 2+2=5.