Club Building Strategy - Europa Groups =

[boboisared]

Hayes, McGinn and Jack?

@@Bebo can we get a grenade emoji?

[Saturday's Kid]

The players that we really miss are from a bit further back than last season. Best spell for McInnes was when Anderson, Robson and Flood were in the side not just because they were good players but they had the will to win which (Shinnie aside) is lacking from this current squad.

[aberdeen1970]

The last couple of years we did well due to having a settled squad. I thought we actually did ok this year considering the upheaval of the summer although I accept the Cypriot team were beatable. I think the previous squad would have won that tie and made the play off round.

[Reliablesource]

 

That's not true, there was still the play off round if we'd managed a draw in Cyprus. Losing cost us circa £750,000 for the next round

What I was thinking.

[fine-n-dandy]

The players that we really miss are from a bit further back than last season. Best spell for McInnes was when Anderson, Robson and Flood were in the side not just because they were good players but they had the will to win which (Shinnie aside) is lacking from this current squad.

Bit of a blanket statement that & very harsh on some (if not ALL) of the squad.

 

Can you please justifiably (in your mind) list those in the squad that do not have a 'will to win'?

 

imo there are certain players that stand out clearly that are not lacking a 'will to win' Logan, Lewis, Arnason, Considine, Christie, May, Rooney, (certainly the younguns) ALL of those are grafters & will not give up until final whistle. That implies a will to win in my eyes. I wouldn't label ANY of our players as not having a 'will to win' hell even McLean who we know is leaving still has a will to win clearly.

 

Frustration with form has made you come up with a ridiculous judgement on the reason for the poor form.

 

You are lacking a will/justification to make a proper/reasoned assessment lol

[Stu255]

I don't think the team needs a huge overhaul to get to the Europa Groups.

 

Really all that is needed is very focused and extended preparation from coaching staff and players. Most of the teams turn up to these qualifiers treating it as a curiosity and with their players in a holiday mood. To most players these games are a nuisance that spoil their summer. Also most teams have poor fitness for the qualifiers as they are on reduced summer training schedules. This is where we have been coming from.

 

 

The dates of all the qualifier games are already known now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018%E2%80%9319_UEFA_Europa_League

 

Just need a big summer time training program and having far better match fitness alone can go a long way to carrying these games.

 

 

Just needs a much sharper and more determined effort from everyone over summer '18 to advance past these summer qualifiers. Tell the players now that this is the plan and that their holiday options will be limited to a few dates so the players can drop the bomb on their wives and avoid getting the hump. This kind of thinking is what's needed to get everything ready for when it counts.

 

 

There's £5m on the other side of those qualifiers. Offer the first £1m of it as bonuses (bonus = extra 2 months pay for everyone at the club). That would show everyone how important it is and they might actually lay off the ice cream.

[ABZ RED]

All well and good, but have you seen how unstuck weve become in every 3rd round tie? How is that going to change and how are we going to beat AC Milan, Bordeaux or whoever awaits in the play off (with this team and manager)?

[Saturday's Kid]

Bit of a blanket statement that & very harsh on some (if not ALL) of the squad.

 

Can you please justifiably (in your mind) list those in the squad that do not have a 'will to win'?

 

imo there are certain players that stand out clearly that are not lacking a 'will to win' Logan, Lewis, Arnason, Considine, Christie, May, Rooney, (certainly the younguns) ALL of those are grafters & will not give up until final whistle. That implies a will to win in my eyes. I wouldn't label ANY of our players as not having a 'will to win' hell even McLean who we know is leaving still has a will to win clearly.

 

Frustration with form has made you come up with a ridiculous judgement on the reason for the poor form.

 

You are lacking a will/justification to make a proper/reasoned assessment lol

Lack does not infer absence but a shortage of "will to win". Just as there are degrees in skill so there are in this quality. I would contend that Kenny McLean is a better player than (say) Scott Brown but I know who I'd rather have in the team.

[Guest]

All well and good, but have you seen how unstuck weve become in every 3rd round tie? How is that going to change and how are we going to beat AC Milan, Bordeaux or whoever awaits in the play off (with this team and manager)?

It’s not our fault. It’s the rest of Scottish football for not being good enough to challenge us week in week out. We are so awesome domestically but fucking shite compared to the also rans from Iceland, Luxembourg, Belgium and Cyprus.

[fine-n-dandy]

Lack does not infer absence but a shortage of "will to win". Just as there are degrees in skill so there are in this quality. I would contend that Kenny McLean is a better player than (say) Scott Brown but I know who I'd rather have in the team.

Well you are still misunderstanding the meaning of WILL to win but regardless all the players I mentioned certainly have a massive WILL to win.

 

Logan for example has just as much drive & desire & fight & even skills in him as Shinnie. I wouldn't deny the same attributes in Lewis also & Christie. Yes you can argue that quality/form may be lacking from some others mentioned but will to win?

 

What exactly has Shinnie done more so than the others in terms of will to win? he may have had better games than some in some respects.

 

Basically I call shite on your point. Especially because you are also implying we are missing Anderson, Robson, Flood more than the likes of Hayes & McGinn but using a BS 'will to win' reasoning to make that point lol

 

I do not miss Mackies MASSIVE 'will to win' for example.

I miss Floods fight/terrier attributes (not much else)

I Miss Robsons set pieces & help to organise the side but not his red cards

I miss Andersons calmness & composure but not the lack of fitness/speed that he ended with

 

Take McKenna for example (& many more in the squad you accuse of lacking a will to win) I'm pretty sure he'd run through a brick wall for the win & throw Shinnie out of the way to do so

[Stu255]

It all comes down to ambition and its ambition at the club itself which has to be reflected from the manager.

 

There are teams who turn up for the summer QR fixtures in between their holidays with players who secretly want to exit in QR1 so they go to Ibiza for 2 weeks.

 

There are teams with coaching staff who know nothing of the team they are playing and naturally default to generic tactics.

 

This is bullshit. Its as if people confuse the QR games with friendlies.

 

If the club has any ambition to grow and upgrade facilities then these fixtures are by far the best way to do it.

 

As I say theres £4-5 million on the other side of those games and yet this is the time of year our players are off to Magaluff for a two week bender.

 

Offer the players a massive bonus for progression, extra two months pay, and they will spend all summer working for it and doing all the detail stuff like nutrition.

[Donstar83]

The problem also lies with recruitment. If we had a decent creator and a goal scorer we would have pumped limassol.

 

Unfortunately most clubs won't sell players until they recruit a replacement themselves (or know they can handle the loss of said player) and this generally doesn't happen until we are well underway with the qualifier games.

 

Frustrating that we never stumped up the supposed 100k for moult that motherwell wanted.

[True_Don]

The players that we really miss are from a bit further back than last season. Best spell for McInnes was when Anderson, Robson and Flood were in the side not just because they were good players but they had the will to win which (Shinnie aside) is lacking from this current squad.

A McInnes best XI would have a chance of getting to group stage: (players selected when at their peak):

 

Lewis

Logan Anderson Reynolds Shinnie

 

McGinn Flood McLean Hayes

 

Christie

 

Rooney

[maryhilldon]

A McInnes best XI would have a chance of getting to group stage: (players selected when at their peak):

Lewis

Logan Anderson Reynolds Shinnie

McGinn Flood McLean Hayes

Christie

Rooney

Hector instead of Reynolds.

[mcdougall(4)]

Take McKenna for example (& many more in the squad you accuse of lacking a will to win) I'm pretty sure he'd run through a brick wall for the win & throw Shinnie out of the way to do so

Bollix min

The brick wall would see big Scott coming and get out of the way...

 

I agree with your general point tho, outward aggression and clenched fists are being confused with inner steel.

[mcdougall(4)]

Summer football is our best hope of being consistent in European football.

[maryhilldon]

Summer football is our best hope of being consistent in European football.

Much more enjoyable too, the bitter cold is the worst thing about going to games. Never used to bother me so much, i must be getting old!

[Stu255]

With the World Cup in 2018, it should be noted that 18 is a particularly good year to attempt to advance the Europa QR stages as some of the big European clubs will be resting players over the summer following the World Cup.

[Stu255]

Posted this at the end of 2017.

 

Seems more relevant than ever after today...

 

First team players need to avoid the desire to go off on a big summer break and go ALL IN for the Europa Qualifiers.

 

Stick with the full training schedule right into Summer because thats what is needed to get the club to the next level.

[mcdougall(4)]

Posted this at the end of 2017.

 

Seems more relevant than ever after today...

 

First team players need to avoid the desire to go off on a big summer break and go ALL IN for the Europa Qualifiers.

 

Stick with the full training schedule right into Summer because thats what is needed to get the club to the next level.

 

School must be out

[Andy_123]

Bit ridiculous claiming the players shouldn't get any sort of break at all over summer.

 

Would you work for no holidays? Remember that's what football is to a football player - work.

[Clydeside_Sheep]

Summary

In.....................£15.3m

gate receipts....£5.4m

Sponsors.........£1.7m

TV....................£2.9m

Commercial?...£4.7m

UEFA prize......£1.1m

 

Out..................£14.7m

salaries............£7.7m

Other stuff........£7.0m

A good breakdown of our finances, though I'd like to know more detail about the 7.0m of "other stuff" we spend on.

 

Is backroom / support staff salaries included in "salaries" or is that only playing staff?

 

Will the new stadium mean a saving on running costs compared to the ageing pittodrie? Less maintenance for a start, I expect.

 

Here is the hun version of the breakdown:

 

In.....................£ Unlimited

'Big Rangers Man' investment....Unlimited

 

Out..................£ Unlimited

Player purchases and salaries...Unlimited

 

Which is exactly the reason they went bust

[Clydeside_Sheep]

Posted this at the end of 2017.

 

Seems more relevant than ever after today...

 

First team players need to avoid the desire to go off on a big summer break and go ALL IN for the Europa Qualifiers.

 

Stick with the full training schedule right into Summer because thats what is needed to get the club to the next level.

In your first post, you made a good point that that the summer months (with early euro qualifiers) are the most important months of the year.

 

I think the club and many fans still view those months as something to muddle through before the SPL season starts, but I do agree with you that everything should be geared around starting these months with a bang.

[Ohjimmyjimmy]

Its made difficult when the core of the starting team is made from loan signings who Will mostly have returned to their parent clubs.

 

I have no doubt that we have benefitted from having them in the team throughout the season but it does leave us exposed for Europe and early part of the season where McInnes essentially has to rebuild each year.

 

I do agree we should have a strategy for Europe that should start well before we even qualify through our league position...

[dj_bollocks]

I hope DMc has learned from last season. The European Qualifiers are the most important games of the season and if you do qualify for the group stages maybe Milne might get the cheque book out for a couple of extra players for the league season. Wishful thinking right ?

[Bamber]

I hope DMc has learned from last season. The European Qualifiers are the most important games of the season and if you do qualify for the group stages maybe Milne might get the cheque book out for a couple of extra players for the league season. Wishful thinking right ?

 

 

Pretty much

 

Firstly we wont know if we are qualified to groups until the 30 August as that's the playoff 2nd leg which leaves Friday to sort it out

 

Secondly the other fly in the ointment that could be good or bad is that England has changed its Window - the English Premier league window opens on Friday the 17 may and closes on the 9 th of August before their league starts. Who knows what that might mean as teams try and sort out their squads etc

 

Who knows what effect that might have championship and below is open later but it might affect loans etc

[Donnet]

 

 

Pretty much

 

Firstly we wont know if we are qualified to groups until the 30 August as that's the playoff 2nd leg which leaves Friday to sort it out

 

Secondly the other fly in the ointment that could be good or bad is that England has changed its Window - the English Premier league window opens on Friday the 17 may and closes on the 9 th of August before their league starts. Who knows what that might mean as teams try and sort out their squads etc

 

Who knows what effect that might have championship and below is open later but it might affect loans etc

 

EPL clubs can still sell players after 9th August, just not sign. It's all about the transfer window of the purchasing/loaning team.

[The Boofon]

@@Bebo can we get a grenade emoji?

 

 

Where are we with this Bebo?

[V for Vendetta]

@@Bebo can we get a grenade emoji?

 

 

 

 

Where are we with this Bebo?

 

What about a van emoji?

[V for Vendetta]

The way money is down south a much better building strategy is probably through developing players.

 

Either developing more/better equipped youth players or simply prospecting young talent from other clubs before its recognised by everyone.

 

For the latter we'd need a top notch talent spotter- which I don't think we really have.