aDONisSheep

YOU... ARE.... MY.... STAVRUM! MY ARILD STAVRUM YOU MAKE ME HAPPY WHEN SKIES ARE GREY YOU'RE BIG AND HAIRY AND COME FROM NORWAY OH PLEASE DON'T TAKE MY STAVRUM AWAY! Yours, couldn't help myself aDONis

I think you'll find it would simply be AberDEEn Caledonian. However our nickname would change to 'BidedoonyePikeyb*****ds' Yours aDONis

I'm afraid that is not quite so clear either. BrandNewcoRangers FC played their first game before the five way agreement was ever ahem agreed. So the five way agreement couldn't have conferred anything as it was not agreed (and I'm not sure if it ever was agreed in full). BrandNewcoRangers played their first game using a 'temporary' or 'conditional' membership (dependent on source) and not the transferred membership that came later. If the SFA deal with clubs (as you state), then by default they must have been dealing with two clubs (the one that held the membership that was about to be transferred, and the one with the temporary membership that was about to receive the transferred membership). Now I have no real issue with BrandRangersNewco FC claiming the titles of OldCoRangers FC, they bought the rights for circa 50p from OldCo FC in liquidation and have the right to use them, just like any other asset they purchased, such as the brand name, stadium etc. (Although it is a laugh when you think that this world record haul, stop laughing at the back, was bought for less than a £1) I do object to being told that this is somehow a seamless enterprise. It was not! For example had OldCoRangers FC been liquidated during the season, BrandRangersNewco would not have had any right to take their place and complete OldCo FCs fixtures. How could that be if they were simply the same football club under new ownership? The mental gymnastics required to weave in and out of the ethereal club v corporate entity is just mind boggling. Companies buy players, sell players, pay players, insure players, own stadiums, own brand rights, enters into merchandise agreements, sells denbenture rights etc, etc. That being the case, what does the ethereal football club do? The buzz-term is cognitive dissonance, we all have it to a certain degree and it's certainly helped the authorities to bluff their way through this fiasco, to try and preserve their cash cow. However everyone knows it's a charade, but there are too many people with vested interests to declare that the emperor is naked. Yours aDONis

That's not quite true. The SPL's executive board (on behalf of the SPL clubs) could have made a decision on whether or not to allow BrandRangersNewco straight into the SPL (the Executive would have had to have had a vote for any decision to stand). The Clubs however chose to take the decision away from the Executive and have a full vote of all SPL members, including OldRangers. (I suspect fan pressure led them to that decision). What it definately wasn't, was a punishment. No matter which way you look at it, BrandRangersNewco had to apply for membership, either via the Executive or via the full SPL membership. Yours aDONis

I agree, but this is the important bit above, and the bit they've tried to push through at the last two AGMs. The repayment of loans is automatic because the people who made the loans are the people who buy the shares. There is no new cash introduced, they switch share-capital for loans. Whether the follow through or not is up for debate, but it's certainly what they've been saying. Yours aDONis

At a fundamental level you are quite right, at some point someone has to pay the ferryman. However, how, when and in what way the ferryman is paid, can make all the difference. What the directors of BrandRangersNewco FC have been saying for a while, is that they'd like to convert loans into equity. If that's the case, then the loan disappears and those directors gain a bit more control. The directors may decide they don't want to be repaid or that they would accept payment of their initial investment 50 years hence (when inflation will have whittled away much of the value). One of the many positives of DeadRangers demise, is that other clubs cleaned up their balance sheets. Debts were written off, or re-structured (Aberdeen were just such a case). Almost all clubs have had periods where their owners have had to dig into their pockets. Aberdeen were a classic example. In the 20 odd years before Derek McInnes came in, I would think that Aberdeen only had two or three seasons where they made a net profit. Losses in all the others. Dundee Utd who have traditionally been pretty good at balancing the books made a whopper of a loss last year (circa £2m IIRC), I don't think they had the cash reserves to cover that, so it's either bank debt or soft loans etc. If others can do it, why do we think BrandRangersNewco FC would be any different. IMHO there is more justification for BrandRangersNewco FC to do it. They have the potential to repay the investments/loans of the past few seasons. They have a big fan-base, and if they can get Waffa Group stages (or beyond), they'll possibly turn a profit. In fact with the amounts involved even a successful SPFL season where they are challenging on all domestic fronts could be enough. My hope is based on the notion, that so far I think Pedro is a hopeless-haddy. If I'm honest he got less than Warburton got from that squad. Hopefully his recruitment will be like Fat-Sally McCoists and that BrandRangersNewco FC will have spunked their cash on shyte. I live in hope. Yours aDONis

Awwreet Miss Sally, I'll just put my accountancy head on. Just some clarifications from your friendly neighbourhood anally-retentive accountant. Soft loans are just loans and do not form part of the Profit and Loss (P&L) of a company (although we're now supposed to call the P&L an 'Income Statement'). At the point the loan is made, you can't make the judgement as to whether a club/company is living outwith its means. That judgement can only be made retrospectively. Example I've got a plan to make the Mighty-mighty-Dons the best team in the world and I figure that over the next five years it's going to require immediate investment of £1bn to buy the players to supply the Goalactico-Rooney. At the point I made the investment, there is no P&L impact and so no FFP consequences. So how does FFP work, well; if over the next five years I make £2bn (£1bn profit) because the Dons win the SPFL, CL, European Championship, World Cup, Boat Race and O'Conner gets a place at the Derby. I have no problems with FFP because I've made money on my investment. If on the other hand, we spend the money on bringing back Kiriakov, Dave Bus and bringing Maradonna out of retirement, and we win fvk-all and I lose the fvkking lot, then that is when FFP comes into play. But it is still a retrospective view. BrandRangersNewco FC are simply making that investment. It will only be a couple of years hence that we'll discover if it was a good or bad decision, we simply can't make that judgement now. Yours Worzel-aDONis

Possibly Kazakhstani opposition!

Let me get this straight. Your argument is; that having a dupopoly is much better than a monopoly, and that the proof of this is, that the last 5 years of monopoly have been better than the previous 20 years of duopoly!? After all it's "not exactly rocket science". BrandRangers logic at it's best! Personally, I'd have thought that fans of a club which is no more than the after-birth that slipped down the side of the Charles Green Abortion Bucket, would have praised the likes of Aberdeen, ICT, Ross County, St Mirren, Kilmarnock, St Johnstone, Hearts & Hibs for breaking Whore FCs monopoly, but it would seem not. Never mind, if BrandRangersNewco FC over-invests it might well... go tits up like DeadRangers FC! Yours, I always try to look on the bright side. aDONis

I've never understood this notion that somehow a duopoly is so much more interesting than a monopoly. I for one have enjoyed the past 5 years so much more than probably the previous 20. The other good thing that happened when OldRangers FC died, was that Whore FCs crowds declined. So many of their fvkwit fans are only interested in the bigotfest. The good thing about this BrandRangersNewco FC is that they look like and smell like DeadRangers FC, but don't have the same financial doping capacity. As such it's easier to knvt them over. I'd love this version to go tits up, so that I could look forward to more years of hilarity and enjoyment. Yours aDONis

BrandRangersNewco FC, have now declared that they are serious about retaining 3rd. They've offloaded Garner the Govan Galactico for an undisclosed fee to Ipswich. No idea how much they had to pay Ipswich, but it's was probably worth it. We welcome the chase! aDONis

I think you mean "Fit?"

I see thon Roonaldo is efter a new club. Mibbees a replacement for Hayes, jist so Lang as the lazy bugger is telt tae mind 'n track back tae help oot Considine.

Dinna laugh min! The unfortunate thing is, that's exactly what he used to do. Paul Bernard anyone! Billy Dodds and a wedge of cash for Robbie Winters! Those years of folly crippled us for nearly two decades. Aberdeen came closer than most people know to doing a Motherwell, Dundee or DeadRangers. Wiggy had to think fast circa 2000 to keep us liquid. Yours aDONis

To be fair, there wasn't much fvkkin' life before Del and the Doc turned up.

Welcome back Del! Magnificent tan! Mibbees cut doon on the schloppy joes, eh!

I don't get the snobbishness that's coming from some Aberdeen fans about Wright. It's not as though McInnes in the early years had us playing like 1982 Brazil. Don't get me wrong, I love McInnes and will forever be grateful for what he's done for Aberdeen. I saw us through the glory years, but probably the most emotional I have ever been at a game was BEFORE THE KICK-OFF at ParkRed! At the age of 46 I almost blubbed, I was just so happy! I think many Aberdeen fans have forgotten that for large parts of his tenure, he too has been ahem 'conservative' and shored up rather than going for the kill. It's only really been this season that the shackles have been taken off (but even then there have been occasions where we've gone conservative (Hibs semi-final was almost a fvcktastrophe after the introduction of O'Conner and IMHO this was replicated in the substitution of a McGinn for O'Conner in the final). I see Wright and McInnes as very similar managers with a similar philosophy about what is required to win matches. Yes, Wright's teams have been stuffy against Aberdeen, but when they've put 3 to 5 past us I've found it hard to console myself with the thought 'we sometimes play better football than them'. I'd love to keep McInnes, but if it's Wright then he gets my backing and I'll consider ourselves lucky to have him. Yours aDONis

He is indeed a bit of a curate's egg. But I'll nail my colours to the mast and say, he's a great appointment. I met him when he was Chief Exec at the Dons. He came across as an absolute straight shooter. I was complaining about the fact that we were about to lose the mercurial talents of David Rowson to Stoke (STOKE FFS)! He was surprisingly open and set me straight on where Aberdeen's spending power sat in comparison to Stoke (STOKE FFS)! Stoke at that time were offering David Rowson roughly triple what Aberdeen's average first team salary was. (Remember Stoke were in the THIRD TIER of the English leagues at the time). To match their offer would have made David Rowson the highest paid player at the club (ahead of the likes of Jess, Bernard, SuperKev, Winters etc.) Not only that, he also told me that Aberdeen had been told by the bank in no uncertain terms to sort their shyt out, and that the bank wouldn't support continual losses. (at the time Aberdeen were losing between £1.5m and £3.6m p.a. IIRC). I was very impressed that he was so candid and straight forward. SO FAR SO GOOD! However after he returned to the States and as per the quote, he did have a bit of a brain fart about a new Ecosse FC team that would travel around the country like the Highland Globetrotters playing at various stadiums attracting 'untapped' supporters who had previously only had an interest in football at international level?! He also championed the merger of many clubs for example the proposed Dundee Club would be the merger of not only Dundee and Utd, but also Arbroath, Montrose and probably St Johnstone (I can't remember exactly). Now I can see the logic of merging smaller clubs to make much bigger clubs (I don't think it's a linear progression or necessarily works, but I can see the logic). However Ecosse FC! Now that is brave/mental! Now I'm hoping he was just trying to start debate, rather than thinking it was a goer, but because it was written down (I think the document was called 'Football the brave' or other such nonsense) it's hard to know how serious he was being. So after all that waffle, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and say he was just being provocative. So welcome aboard chiel! Yours aDONis

Alonso looking unlikely. Heard he wanted a guaranteed starting place ahead of Pirlo and Shinnie. Deal breaker IMHO.

Point of order Mr Chairman It was the MIGHTY, MIGHTY AFC that condemned NewBrandRangers FC to their uncertain fate. After our declaration, the new club had to appeal to the SFL for succour. A great day it was indeed! Yours aDONis

Nope, £10.3m was indeed for the playing squad. Total salaries were £12.9m Dave "what the fvk am I looking at" King knows that most SevcoBrandRangers fans are zipped up the back. Chuck in a few lines with the words 'loyal', 'tradition' or 'enemy' and they'll lap it up. Yours aDONis

In fairness, it's well known that Giggs is not only in awe of Josh "Big Wilf" Magennis' prowess as goalkeeper, come heedless striker, come circus half-time entertainment. He is also cowed by Joshers reputation as a powerful yet tender lover. He took out that super-injunction, to stop Imogen Thomas from spilling the beans that Big Wilf, had a more gifted trouser department, than Sir Awex had temper tantrums, and that only Andrew Considine could measure up to (allegedly). But keep that to yourself, because I could be in contempt of court Yours Andrew Considine (aka Red Rum)

In fairness, it does actually takes some fvkkin doing to be that fvkkin shyte! But Stevenson is so good he wouldn't have been playing back then when Hubs got relegated, it was a while ago after all. Yours aDONis

Considine would walk into all the other clubs teams except maybe Celtic at the moment. Funny thing is, that would only make him the third best left back in Scotland and the 2nd best left back in Aberdeen! Oh aye, and he's not a grass either. Yes sir you can boogie. aDONis

Jerel Awful as he was known, was Swindon fans player of the season before he came to Pittodrie. I can't think of a worse player for Aberdeen. Ritchie 'Roberto Carlos' Byrne used to give me the shyts when the ball went near him. Every one of Jamie McQuilken's seven appearances are burned in horror on my retinas! But to paraphrase Snead O'Conner, "Nothing compares, nothing compares to the f**k nugget, ineptitude of Jerel"! Yours aDONis