Let it Snow

Preparations for Saturday's game down the road against Falkirk weren't helped when Mother Nature dumped her white blanket over the Silver City. Good job the Pittodrie pitch was available. The chaos on the roads around Aberdeen wouldn't have helped either - hope the team bus has good traction on the iced up surfaces.



A welcome visitor at Pittodrie was past player and current chairman of the Former Players' Association. He was in to do an interview for RedTV and the FPs magazine. After the dreaded filming he was spotted in the canteen having a bowl of soup with Chris Gavin and chatting with Mark McGhee and Neil Cooper. Your fly on the wall can't divulge the nature of the banter but some of it would make a coal heaver blush.

The Under-19s had their league match against St. Mirren, due to be played in Paisley this afternoon, postponed due to an "unplayable pitch". Nothing to do with St. Mirren's Youth Cup quarter final due to be played on Sunday then?

Cleaners were hard at work today cleaning up the Richard Donald Suite after a Wednesday night bash for students from Aberdeen Uni. It seems the guests got more than a bit carried away and worked pretty hard at wrecking the joint. The extent of damage done was disgusting - so much for a good education...

Another day on from Raithgate and, in preparation for the weekend's football, the routine is more or less back to normal. The first team are off, probably nursing battered bodies and bruised egos before a tough training session on Friday and the Falkirk match on Saturday. Despite the bad result midweek, a fair number of the Red Army are picking up tickets for the game - hopefully to back the team to the hilt and hopefully to see the team setting out to repair the damage done on Tuesday.

The under 19s had a training session this morning and are now engaged in assorted forms for education and skills development ranging from engineering or catering to sports coaching or linguistics. The club and the SFA provide plenty of opportunity for young players to prepare a safety net in case they don't make it as footballers or indeed, in case injury shortens their careers. Today a couple of them were handed certificates after successfully doing some basketball coaching in schools.

Another Day Another Dollar

Pittodrie is a wee bit like a morgue today, although nobody has actually topped themselves. The worst aspect of the morning was the abusive phone calls that came into reception and the ticket office. This is completely out of order - the staff here are all Dons' fans too and feel defeats just as much as supporters who don't work here. Last night's defeat isn't their fault and they shouldn't have to listen to the bile that has come in.
The gaffer is still seething with fury over what happened and looks even more determined to sort things out. He has inherited problems that were already here and it will take him a while to get things the way he wants them. Very few managers walk into an ideal set-up. Look what happened when Eddie Turnbull arrived at Aberdeen - by the end of his first season he had a mass clearout and set about rebuilding his squad from there, and although he got the team to a Cup Final in '67 it really took him till 1970 to produce a seriously challenging side that could win a cup and very nearly the league.
Mark needs time and loads of effort from all those around him, from the playing and coaching staff up to the board and the supporters as well. Uniting in adversity will make us stronger, the team has to be up and ready for Saturday so whilst Tuesday night can't be forgotten, we must move on and strive for better.

Hate to say it, but we got what we deserved tonight. It was a game for rolling up the sleeves, digging deep and getting round beind the defence. There was only one team did that and it wasn't ours.
Now should be the time for fighting talk, and the manager needs to be searching for a way to lift the players for Saturday, but there are no excuses and nobody will be quick to do anything but slag off the players and likely the board. Fair enough - we all know that this kind of display isn't good enough, especially in a season where the Cup was so important when the league was already looking like a turkey.
The gaffer has no choice to say "onwards and upwards" and I belive that eventually he will achieve something here, but tonight ensured that his budget will be under pressure and keeping players, let alone recruiting new ones will be so much harder.

Tidy is as Tidy Does

At long last there are signs of action by messrs Gunn and Mountford, AFC's baby faced football administrators, to clear up the pit known locally as their office. The confidential waste bin is bursting at the seems with unwanted documents and some of the stacks of boxes that seemed permanent fixtures have come down a bit from the ceiling with expectations that the floor might be visible any day now.
The danger is that as the walls become exposed to daylight for the first time in years and people get the chance to approach close enough to the window to see out, it'll be discovered that scrawled pleas for help by past incumbents or maybe even cave painting will appear along with the dried out remains of Gordon Bennet's last sausage supper.

Ahead of tonight's game against Raith, Pittodrie is a hive of activity - from the Sodexo staff getting the lounges set up for corporate use to the ground staff fixing seats that were daqmaged on Saturday the place is buzzing. During the morning there was a tour of the stadium with Walter showing round a large party of school kids - probably their first time inside the old place.
Also to be seen was a young fan filming all around the place so that she will have material for editing into DVDs that the AFC Heritage Trust will be making from time to time.
The young players came in drookit from a tough morning training session and looked more than ready for a bowl of chicken soup and a plate of chilli with saffron rice. They get well supplied with fruit, yoghurt or milk if they want it - got to keep their strength up, they are growing loons after all.
Willie Miller had a couple of his youth development men in for a chat and a bite of dinner. The coaching network is widespread these days and there's heaps to be done. More on that in a future chapter, it deserves some special attention.
The ticket office is reasonably busy, but we need more fans queuing up for this game, numbers count. The team will be well wound up to get the victory, but their chances will increase if they get the vocal backing tonight, drowning out the Raith fans and intimidating their players. We all know that for the Dons a game against first division should be a walk in the park but let's not take anything for granted. United we stand, so Come On You Reds!

Snapper on the scene

Well known press photographer Derek Ironside was slumped in Pittodrie's reception after a hard morning's snapping up at the Balgownie training ground. He was recovering from the chill that gets into everybody's bones up there, but a coffee in the canteen soon put him right.

Spotted at Pittodrie today: Rory Duff, well known man bout the chat sites, grabbing a baked potato in the Pittodrie canteen. He was in animated discussion with a cadaverous looking gent who was doing more listening than chatting. Your mole suspects that there are schemes afoot.
With a match coming up tomorrow night, Pittodrie was a hive of activity and the canteen was packed with youth players, management and staff. The Gaffer was looking energised and ready to get on with something. Not too many first team players on view, probably just the ones in for treatment for weekend injuries.

Pittodrie Insider

Okay, here goes. This is the real deal, a blog by Aberdeen Supporters for Aberdeen Supporters all about stuff that is going on at Pittodrie and all things connected with the Mighty Dons. Actually, this one is a bit of a trial till we get up to speed so don't expect too much too soon. Also, don't expect scandal, lies or innuendo (well, not much). The aim here is to share with people things that they are not too likely to catch on the AFC website or in the papers.
The idea is to be open, honest and informative without giving away stuff that shouldn't be revealed such as how much who earns, or which players are coming and going. There's absolutely no intentions of undermining Mark's efforts or anybody else's.