Derek McInnes

[ragnarok]

He said we can’t win it if Celtic do their job. How negative is that? The timing & content of that statement wasn’t for our benefit though. It was for any potential future employers.

Or am I reading it wrong?

Winning the league is more likely under McInnes than any manager we’ve had since W. Miller.

It’s not a very good chance due to Celtic’s financial dominance but realistically we have had a chance.

We would need everything to go right for us. 80pts is probably the minimum points haul but 85-90 is more realistic. It’s not defeatist to point out that this is very hard to achieve on our budget it’s simply a fact.

[ragnarok]

Do you think there is any desire within Pittodrie to win the league?

I don’t think there has been since the early 90s.

That’s not what he said though. If that was the message then surely he’d have said that.

Agree with Rico, there is no real desire (at board level certainly) to win the league. Deila’s second season proved that beyond doubt.

My guess - Del’s statement is a summary of Milne’s end of season appraisal with Del. Milne will be f’uckin delighted with what we achieved - “exceeded expectations” (aye Milne’s expectations).

Also starts to temper any expectations of major or exciting transfer activity.

2nd in league - achieved expectations
Cups - below expectations
Europe - below expectations (by one round)

That’s my appraisal.

How much do you think we would need to spend to have a realistic chance of winning the league? In Deila’s two seasons I would put our chances at 5-10%. A good additional signing might increase that by a few % points. To increase that to 50% we would probably need to spend at least as much as Celtic. Diminishing returns and all that.

Deila’s first season was actually the better chance. If we hadn’t had such a slow start and had improved our results against the Tims we could have been much closer. Even though we lost all four games the performances weren’t bad on the whole. The first half of the 4-0 loss at Parkhead would rank as one of the best performances I’ve seen from a Dons side there. The (our) Scott Brown shat it unfortunately.

[RED_JOHN]

This particular thread needed a bump up as I have been disappointed with our squad enhancement during the transfer window leading up to the start of our season on Thursday evening.
Ragnarok stated we have a decent wage budget and could attract a better standard of player than the majority in our league but we are still rummaging around in the bargain bins....a very true statement. I would go as far as stating we are now sifting through the dross than nobody really wanted but out of desperation we will give it a go.
Good luck to Dodgy Del on Thursday, he will need it very much.

[RedStarTorphins]

This particular thread needed a bump up as I have been disappointed with our squad enhancement during the transfer window leading up to the start of our season on Thursday evening.
Ragnarok stated we have a decent wage budget and could attract a better standard of player than the majority in our league but we are still rummaging around in the bargain bins....a very true statement. I would go as far as stating we are now sifting through the dross than nobody really wanted but out of desperation we will give it a go.
Good luck to Dodgy Del on Thursday, he will need it very much.

Bargain basement
Sifting through the dross.

Sounds harsh... but will be proven correct if we offer Nowak any kind of contract.

[KIWIRED]

DM can hardly improve the squad if the board dont financially back him.
Lets face it, they always just wont go that extra mile to back him
On the brightside at least we have a nice new pitch

[Jackjarvis]

DM can hardly improve the squad if the board dont financially back him.
Lets face it, they always just wont go that extra mile to back him
On the brightside at least we have a nice new pitch

There were changes in groundstaff recently and hopefully more money was spent on the surface that the players are meant to entertain us on.....we still do not have a specific training set up to get in line with our rivals(did see a photo of a spade/digger recently!) to try and assist our coaches/players, we cannot match wages offered by a non league team......Ach, the usual suspects have been proven right......all these factors and us only being second behind Celtic are down to our current coach........S@cK him on the spot now!

SF

[donsdaft]

Of course he's maybe played a blinder.

A couple of astute low level signings and the promotion to the first team of some of the youngsters ( which we've all been screaming for) may well turn out to be a much better policy than just buying more s'hite.

Anyway, we're about to find out.

[87kilos]

There will be more to come in.

Of that I am confident.

[Pacman1903]

There will be more to come in.

Of that I am confident.

Season starts in a day. He should have his business pretty much done

[RedStarTorphins]

Season starts in a day. He should have his business pretty much done

I don’t think it should necessarily be done.
90% of managers will do deals up to 31/8.

However, we should be further down the line.

Instead of looking for say 4 players, it should be a couple maximum