Assessment

[madjockmcferson]

Well, there is 20 years of data that suggests our higher wages don't make a difference, which kinda suggests that the amount you pay in wages (in Scottish football) is irrelevant (unless you are the team formerly known as the huns, or you are Celtic), in which case you can afford to pay relatively much more than others. It might also help to go into administration, as proved by our friends Murderwell, or to be so small that you avoid debt altogether (ICT, Ross Cunty), or sell your best players for millions of #GBP (like Hibs) ... except that hasn't worked out well for them either.

 

I would like to think that paying more buys you better players but I wonder if what it actually does is buy us a larger squad of inconsistent players or if in fact it allows us to buy / pay players who would play for Chumpionship teams if they weren't injury prone. Aberdeen does tend to buy players that have obvious talent but are injury prone.

 

Perhaps this isn't a good strategy (20 yrs with no trophy suggests its a bad strategy) or bad luck. More research is needed. I, however, am certainly at the point (and have been for several years) where I don't expect more money / wages to equal better performances / league position. I think there are much more intangibles at work than just how much money you throw at something.

[Ke1t]

Well, there is 20 years of data that suggests our higher wages don't make a difference, which kinda suggests that the amount you pay in wages (in Scottish football) is irrelevant (unless you are the team formerly known as the huns, or you are Celtic), in which case you can afford to pay relatively much more than others. It might also help to go into administration, as proved by our friends Murderwell, or to be so small that you avoid debt altogether (ICT, Ross Cunty), or sell your best players for millions of #GBP (like Hibs) ... except that hasn't worked out well for them either.

 

I would like to think that paying more buys you better players but I wonder if what it actually does is buy us a larger squad of inconsistent players or if in fact it allows us to buy / pay players who would play for Chumpionship teams if they weren't injury prone. Aberdeen does tend to buy players that have obvious talent but are injury prone.

 

Perhaps this isn't a good strategy (20 yrs with no trophy suggests its a bad strategy) or bad luck. More research is needed. I, however, am certainly at the point (and have been for several years) where I don't expect more money / wages to equal better performances / league position. I think there are much more intangibles at work than just how much money you throw at something.

 

Well, I don't know if it hasn't worked for Hibs.

 

They have a training facility where we have our players training alongside joggers, junkies and shitting dogs.

 

They also don't HAVE to sell their only real asset (their stadium) in order to survive long term.

 

They've also won a trophy in the lifetime of most teenagers Primary School kids, whereas we have fans approaching 20 who haven't been alive in the time since we won a trophy.

 

We can only dream of being run like Hibs, unfortunately.

[fine-n-dandy]

Well, there is 20 years of data that suggests our higher wages don't make a difference, which kinda suggests that the amount you pay in wages (in Scottish football) is irrelevant (unless you are the team formerly known as the huns, or you are Celtic), in which case you can afford to pay relatively much more than others. It might also help to go into administration, as proved by our friends Murderwell, or to be so small that you avoid debt altogether (ICT, Ross Cunty), or sell your best players for millions of #GBP (like Hibs) ... except that hasn't worked out well for them either.

 

I would like to think that paying more buys you better players but I wonder if what it actually does is buy us a larger squad of inconsistent players or if in fact it allows us to buy / pay players who would play for Chumpionship teams if they weren't injury prone. Aberdeen does tend to buy players that have obvious talent but are injury prone.

 

Perhaps this isn't a good strategy (20 yrs with no trophy suggests its a bad strategy) or bad luck. More research is needed. I, however, am certainly at the point (and have been for several years) where I don't expect more money / wages to equal better performances / league position. I think there are much more intangibles at work than just how much money you throw at something.

I expect more from Aberdeen (& have for the past couple of decades) than they have provided us because it still is a massive club within Scotland. The wages on offer only supports that fact that it is one of the bigger (& therefore justifiably thought of as should be doing better) clubs.

 

Simple fact is the club does not meet the ambitions of the majority of it's fans.

Yes we accept that we're not in the 80's anymore & that that was a massive freak occurrence for us but we do (& rightly so) expect more than one cup in twenty years

[tup]

I'll say it again, it was stupid to change a winning formula which we had against Falkirk.

 

Being outfought by St Mirren and County is a concern.

 

I think the fragile mentality which has plagued the club for years is still in evidence.

[fine-n-dandy]

Let's be honest, as much as we have more resources than a St Mirren or a Ross County, the gap is small enough that a few key injuries/a slightly below par performance/dodgy ref/flukey goal can cost us points in games like that.

 

I'm not panicking about those results as I think over the course of the season we'll finish above sides like those, much in the same way that I wasn't shooting my load after the Motherwell win as it'll be more challenging to finish above them.

 

Folk over-react too much to individual games, and pish like "I won't accept anything less than thrashing St Mirren" is unrealistic and helps no-one.

I'm speaking in general of the past couple of decades, not the past couple of games.

[madjockmcferson]

I'd like to have the HIVs training facilities but it doesn't seem to be doing them any favors where it matters....on the pitch.

 

It comes to the point, a little like my house, where investing in it might not be worthwhile because the returns are negligible. Why should I build an extension onto my house when the area it is in likely means I won't recoup my investment or it will price the house above that of the neighborhood. Similarly, why build great training facilities in the SPHell when the players aren't good enough to justify it?

 

I think Bripod is onto something. I suspect that the gap between SPHell teams is small enough that a couple of injuries to our players / a couple of suspensions / a bit of bad luck / a bit of bad refereeing / too much sex the night before the game / just not being up for it / not being talented enough is enough to tip the balance.

 

We see it in the Scottish game all the time. Someone will beat Celtic one week then lose to Partick the next. The reason? We are all inconsistent and we cannot expect inconsistent players to perform every week and we cannot expect good players to come down a level and play for us when they can command much higher wages in other leagues.

[alscotoz]

I expect them to train hard and try and improve but there are very few players who have played for us and moved onto better things....suggesting that the biggest limiting factor is their ability. ICTs players, St J players, Hearts players are not that much different from ours...they are all more or less playing at the top level that their ability will allow them, with game to game variations that allow StJ to beat Rosenberg......but also to revert to mean and then draw with Partick.

 

Better coaching, better scouting, better managers, more money, might help a team perform 'above' its level but experience suggests this is fleeting (see Middlesborough / Leeds Utd). Anyways, as what happened with us and Ferguson, the main reason for that outperformance will get noticed by other teams (ie Man U) and we will fall back to historic averages.

 

That we haven't won anything for 20 yrs is something of an aberration as we have won 18 trophies in approx 110 years at an average of 1 trophy per 6/7 seasons. Take out the Fergie years and you have 8 trophies....ie an average of 13/14 seasons between winning something - ie it doubles. Our 20 yr hiatus is something of an anomaly but then again, who else has been winnign stuff (outside of the IF) on a consistent basis? That leads to the conclusion that there is something about the players who dont (didnt) play for Rankgers and Celtic.....they arent good enough / are inconsistent. And thats an experience shared by all teams outwith those 2.

 

That and the fact that we live in a market with good information means that any of our staff members or playing staff that look like they might break that mold of inconsistency (Ryan Fraser) get snapped up by better teams....which only serves to keep us where we are.

 

Sad isn't it?

 

It's in you face and I trust your final question is rhetorical

[alscotoz]

McInnes is the new Fergie.

 

From next season onwards we'll be averaging 3 trophies a season in time.

 

Patience.

 

 

He's no more the new Fergie than Flood is the new Strachan

 

Patience=reality. Accept and get on with it...it is what it is (i know what you mean berto)

[Dandyesque]

I think it's fair to say that some fans have expectations of individuals in excess of what our players can deliver

 

The same cannot be said of the club however

[fine-n-dandy]

Yeah some think Clangers is a keeper & others think Zola will come good

[SkyeDon]

Never mind, Chris Clark is set to return to training. A bit of positivity at least. No, thought not...

[Jocky Balboa]

Well, there is 20 years of data that suggests our higher wages don't make a difference, which kinda suggests that the amount you pay in wages (in Scottish football) is irrelevant (unless you are the team formerly known as the huns, or you are Celtic), in which case you can afford to pay relatively much more than others. It might also help to go into administration, as proved by our friends Murderwell, or to be so small that you avoid debt altogether (ICT, Ross Cunty), or sell your best players for millions of #GBP (like Hibs) ... except that hasn't worked out well for them either.

 

I would like to think that paying more buys you better players but I wonder if what it actually does is buy us a larger squad of inconsistent players or if in fact it allows us to buy / pay players who would play for Chumpionship teams if they weren't injury prone. Aberdeen does tend to buy players that have obvious talent but are injury prone.

 

Perhaps this isn't a good strategy (20 yrs with no trophy suggests its a bad strategy) or bad luck. More research is needed. I, however, am certainly at the point (and have been for several years) where I don't expect more money / wages to equal better performances / league position. I think there are much more intangibles at work than just how much money you throw at something.

Good post jock, but a better barometer of our trophy winning endeavours (and lack thereof) would be to take the 1947 Cup win (our first major trophy) as a year zero and compare from there.

 

Whichever way we look at it however, we have been the 3rd biggest club in Scotland since arguably the late 1960's and it is unacceptable that we have not only had zero trophies in 18 years (or one in 23, if you prefer to look at it that way) and have not even contested a cup final in over 13.

[Byrne Baby Byrne]

Never mind, Chris Clark is set to return to training. A bit of positivity at least. No, thought not...

 

We were top of the league at the end of November (in real time, as we were beating Caley) when he got injured

 

And we were REGULARLY beating Copenhagen 4-0 just before he left

 

Chris Clark is our best player

[RTYD]

Never mind, Chris Clark is set to return to training. A bit of positivity at least. No, thought not...

[muttonhumper]

Being a Dons fan is just like being Josef Fritzel's daughter.

 

Every time you see a glimmer of light, you end up getting fucked.

 

[Tommy]

Being a Dons fan is just like being Josef Fritzel's daughter.

 

Every time you see a glimmer of light, you end up getting fucked.

 

Thanks for brightening up a terrible day.

[madjockmcferson]

Actually, since 1999 (start of SPHell), we are the 6th best team in Scotland.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Premier_League

 

All-time we are 6th.

 

http://www.statto.com/football/stats/scotland/all-time-table

 

That seems to tie in with our recent performance being about where we sit on average.

[muttonhumper]

 

All-time we are 6th.

 

http://www.statto.com/football/stats/scotland/all-time-table

 

That seems to tie in with our recent performance being about where we sit on average.

 

Aye, but we have games in hand:

 

208 on Dundee. (65 points behind)

283 on Hibs. (66 points behind)

353 on Hearts (hunners behind)

 

All these teams have also had lengthy spells winning games in the lower divisions.

We play top league teams. Since dot.

 

 

341 on Celtic

 

Not forgetting

339 On the now defunct Rangers.

Though it seems they are counting tribute act games. Pricks.

So also playing teams at a lower level than us.

 

Though truth be told, we will catch up with Rangers...if it had shown them correctly as not accumulating any more points since last summer. In aboot 20 years like...

 

Dundee & Hibs probably catchable at some point.

Hearts, if they go bust.

 

Celtic are our only challengers. Really...

[madjockmcferson]

I couldn't find a postwar one. I'm guessing that a real statistical analysis would include only results since we were formed. I don't know enough to know whether post war football was different enough from prewar to justify using just post war stats.....though that would seem like cherry picking as it was only postwar that we started to win stuff, so using postwar would be to whitewash how unsuccessful we were before that.

[Henry]

 

 

 

Not forgetting

339 On the now defunct Rangers.

Though it seems they are counting tribute act games. Pricks.

So also playing teams at a lower level than us.

 

 

Strange that they have separate teams for Airdrieonians old and new but not the huns

[muttonhumper]

 

Strange that they have separate teams for Airdrieonians old and new but not the huns

 

Ach...a bit of intimidation here...a death threat there...par for the course.

 

Statto man probably happy to live and perpetuate a lie to keep his windows intact and his family safe.

Seems to be the way it works.

[fine-n-dandy]

Sad that they are so desperate to stay top of such a pointless table that means nothing.

 

Sad little Orcs