How do we improve the team?

[RedStarTorphins]

Like they were doing against Chikhura. That was a joy to watch.

Yes it was entertaining but they were lower league standard.

Strange thing is, post match McInnes said “the supporters saw the Aberdeen I want us to be”.
It hasn’t been seen since.
Why?

[rico94]

Yes it was entertaining but they were lower league standard.

Strange thing is, post match McInnes said “the supporters saw the Aberdeen I want us to be”.
It hasn’t been seen since.
Why?

Because the players aren’t fit enough.

Last week James Wilson said he still can’t play for 90 minutes but is getting there.

I can understand him not being at his best because he hasn’t played much but he should be fit enough at this stage of the season to play for 90 minutes.

McLennan can’t play for 90 minutes either,there have been others in the past who couldn’t last for an entire game.

It can’t be that difficult to get the players fit .

[Red Zone]

Apologies in advance for what I know will be a loooong post but I'm also going to take the longer term view.

We have just become yet another humdrum nameless hoofball Scottish football team with no identity over the last couple of seasons. Our esteemed Chairman is culpable in allowing Scottish football to return to an extremely boring and pointless two horse race albeit one of the horses is different from the last time it was a two horse race. However rather than the view from our current Board and Manager I would not be willing to accept that as a given so what would I suggest we do about it?

For me it's not about who is in charge of either the Board or the Team as the Club existed before Milne/McInnes and will exist long after they both leave. It's about setting some principles/guidelines that we manage the Club by regardless of who is in charge to have an identity.

The first principle for me should be that we are an ambitious club that does not accept mediocrity. To that end we should set targets that if the manager does not achieve then we change managers and should not be afraid to do so, which seems to be many people's current issue around removing the current manager. We need to assume the Board will make the right decision in the new appointment and if they don't then we change the manager again. For me the targets should be as follows.
(1) Win a cup on average every four years
(2) In the league we aim to achieve an average of 80 points, which likely won't win the league most years but positions us to take advantage if celtic and sevco both have ordinary seasons. I strongly believe that we shouldn't be over-focussed on matches against celtic/sevco but rather ensure we take almost maximum points from the bottom six teams. In season 16/17 we took 44 out of a maximum 54 points against the bottom six. If we can achieve this (more on the team we need to achive this below) then I have to believe we can take 36 points from 20 games against the top 6 teams
(3) Qualify for Europe every year and qualify for the Group stages two in every five years

The second principle to me is that we become a much more fan focused club that treats the fans properly as the lifeblood of the Club (we are the only permanent, as owners and managers come and go) rather than simple customers to be bled dry. The club need to be much more open and honest (fans may not want to hear bad news but I'd rather be told the truth than fed bullsh!t) and to listen and react to fans wishes. The whole stadium situation is a perfect example of being told lies and not listening to what the fans want. I strongly believe that we should follow the Hibs example and redevelop Pittodrie in stages as and when we can afford it (more on this below) even if this means a reduced capacity of 16-18,000.

The third principle for me is that we become a much more youth focused team in the mould of Ajax (I accept we would be very much a mini Ajax on a very different scale). It is very clear that our current approach of buying/loaning journeymen from Englandshire and only playing youngsters as a last resort is simply not working. I don't think we need absolute targets but we should be aiming to start each match with an average of 3-4 players that are 21 or under. A few underlying guidelines to help achieve this
(1) play our own talented yougsters more often to know if they will make it (it is a nonsense that a whole year after scoring the winning goal against sevco that we haven't the slightest idea if Anderson has the ability to play in our first team)
(2) cut strings quicker with youngsters that are clearly not going to be a first team regular - why are we still persevering with Wright (ditto Cammy Smith when he was with us)
(3) look to buy young Scottish talent where possible e.g. Ferguson
(4) won't be a popular one this but look to scoop up talented celtic and sevco youngsters who are not going to play for them. Whether we like it or not they do have the better under 16 players but the way they are heading very very few will make it to the first team there. We should be enticing those players to join us as their contract expires with a promise of a clearer path to first team football and ultimately a better career

The fourth principle for me is to be a Team known for playing football rather than hoofball as ultimately we are in the entertainment business and need to be able to entice people to come and watch us. That comes back to our signing policy as well as how we bring through youngsters. We also need a mix of some more experienced players as well as some players that will be able to stand up for themselves when coming up against a Scott Brown type player. A few guidelines for me on what I think our signing policy should be
(1) sign footballers rather than athletes - why didn't we try to sign Scott Allan?
(2) don't sign any player that is over 30
(3) don't sign any player that at any point in their career has been out for six months or longer with an injury
(4) don't sign anyone from another country who in the previous season has not been a regular for their team unless (a) they have had a prior successful time in Scotland or (b) they play in the top league in their country and the country is ranked in the top 15 leagues
(5) no loan players from any spfl team
(6) no loan players other than an under 21 player from a team in the top league of a top 15 country e.g James Maddison, Danny Ward etc
I realise this will exclude a whole bunch of potential players but it's about time our scouting department earned their money rather than signing players after accidentally bumping into them in the stands at Northampton

The fifth principle for me is that we not only acknowledge we are a selling club but actively pursue this route to maximise income and create a virtuous circle of raising income from selling players that can then be invested back into the team as per the above principles. The one exception to re-investing money back into the team is if we sell a player for many millions e.g. McKenna or Fraser sell-on (hopefully) then a part is held back and used to refurbish Pittodrie in stages. Again probably not popular but my view is that we should be prepared to sell to celtic and sevco but only on the basis of 50% more than we could sell elsewhere (e.g. the typical approach when English teams sell to MU). I would also insist on selling any player that we want to keep who has not signed an extension by 12 months before their contract expiry date

I realise the above might read as a fanciful wishlist but is there anything really we couldn't aim to achieve with a strong backbone from the Board and the Manager?

[rico94]

I would agree with most of that red zone.

Apart from the bit about assuming the board will get the next appointment right and if they don’t they will have to get rid of him.

That’s what we have been doing for the last 20 years and Milne has never got it right.

If we continue to do that with the bald prick in charge it’s a paper over the cracks mentality which will result in us winning another trophy in 19 years if we are lucky.

[Don_Corleone]

Because the players aren’t fit enough.

Last week James Wilson said he still can’t play for 90 minutes but is getting there.

I can understand him not being at his best because he hasn’t played much but he should be fit enough at this stage of the season to play for 90 minutes.

McLennan can’t play for 90 minutes either,there have been others in the past who couldn’t last for an entire game.

It can’t be that difficult to get the players fit .

Strange that Wilson can't play 90 minutes given that we're about into October now and he signed at the end of pre-season!! Although it probably doesn't matter anyway as the most McInnes ever gives him is about 10 minutes with the exception of the game he got injured in.

[Aldo1983]

Because the players aren’t fit enough.

Last week James Wilson said he still can’t play for 90 minutes but is getting there.

I can understand him not being at his best because he hasn’t played much but he should be fit enough at this stage of the season to play for 90 minutes.

McLennan can’t play for 90 minutes either,there have been others in the past who couldn’t last for an entire game.

It can’t be that difficult to get the players fit .

The fitness thing is a sackable offense. Why aren't they fit? It's nothing to do with the training facilities.

[Devanha Red]

I would agree with most of that red zone.

Apart from the bit about assuming the board will get the next appointment right and if they don’t they will have to get rid of him.

That’s what we have been doing for the last 20 years and Milne has never got it right.

If we continue to do that with the bald prick in charge it’s a paper over the cracks mentality which will result in us winning another trophy in 19 years if we are lucky.

Should we not look to employ a director of football who's job it is to pinpoint potential new managers and even which players we should go after.

Milne clearly knows **** all about football, I'm still not convinced he's even a football fan so why is he entrusted with decisions of such magnitude.

[Don_Corleone]

I would agree with most of that red zone.

Apart from the bit about assuming the board will get the next appointment right and if they don’t they will have to get rid of him.

That’s what we have been doing for the last 20 years and Milne has never got it right.

I would probably argue that he did get the McInnes appointment right at the time. McInnes did a decent job in the first 2-3 years and did take us on from where we were at that point (I know things were made easier due to certain teams not being in the league etc) - but he's taken us as far as he can and we've been regressing for well over a year now. You could possibly also argue Craig Brown did what was necessary at the time in stabilising what was a totally sinking ship, and that he signed the likes of McGinn and Hayes (although he made plenty other mistakes - but he did what was required in the short term.

However I do agree with your opinion that we can't trust him to get the next appointment right. I think he'd go for someone similar to McInnes which is the last thing we need right now.

[rico94]

The fitness thing is a sackable offense. Why aren't they fit? It's nothing to do with the training facilities.

I think that is more of a reason to get rid of McInnes than the style of football.

[Devanha Red]

Yes it was entertaining but they were lower league standard.

Strange thing is, post match McInnes said “the supporters saw the Aberdeen I want us to be”.
It hasn’t been seen since.
Why?

We could adopt the same style of play against any opposition. He's just too feart to give it a go.