Game of throw-ins

Michael Grant wrote a column about this a few weeks ago. He argued that the idea that Scottish football was still a duopoly was a myth not supported by the evidence. We have had one dominant club for well over a decade and that is highly unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. A rare outburst of honesty on the subject from a MSM Scottish football journalist: usually they are in collusion not to kill the golden goose called "Rangers revival may be just around the corner".

Re "clear and obvious error" I think there's some confusion about what this actually means. Let's say there's an incident. The ref knows what he thinks he saw and he gives a yellow card. He's asked to go to the monitor and watching the playback realises that what he thought he saw was not what actually happened. And that if he had seen what happened he'd have given a red card. The playback has revealed a "clear and obvious error". The referee made his original decision based on what he thought happened but didn't. He now makes a correct decision based on what did happen. Lots of people seem to be claiming that before he can amend the card additional criteria must be met. That, even if a red would have been a correct decision, if there any sort of argument that a yellow card could have been valid, then the the original yellow is not a "clear and obvious error" and should stand. That looks daft. Only the referee knows whether the playback reveals that he made his decision based on an error. He knows what he thinks the correct decision would be now that he has a better understanding of the facts. It is not his job to try to work out whether someone else might deem it was only a yellow card offence, thus rendering his error "not clear and obvious". His job is to make the right decision now that he has a better understanding of the facts. A case of there not being a "clear and obvious error" would be one where what the referee saw looking at the monitor was consistent with what he originally saw. Not one where the original decision, based on a misunderstanding of what happened, could be defended as correct even though the referee would have made a different one had he seen it clearly.

I was about to type something similar. In effect we'd we agreeing to something mainly intended to improve Killie's chances of taking points off us this season. I hope we're not that gullible.

Well done Killie.

BBC announcing a tripe Killie change. Seems a bit harsh on the guys coming on.

This is not a reflection of how good the fans think the team is. It's a cultural change in how players behave at the end of matches. Chairmen and/or managers have decided it's good marketing for players to salute the fans for their support. It's not specific to Aberdeen. Some old timers like Miller don't understand it or like it because in their day you only did it if you'd done something special. St Mirren players did exactly the same today. They went to salute their fans at the end of the match, and got prolonged cheering and applause. After being gubbed 3-1 at Pittodrie. Incidentally, how embarrassed were you by that?

I think this is bollocks. None of the Aberdeen fans I know think that the team that played today (especially minus Miovski) looks strong enough for us to expect top 4. Clarkson and Polvara will make a difference but what will probably determine our season is how good our recruitment is from here on in. We have one guy signed, another rumoured to be signing and hopefully a couple more to come. We definitely need an injection of quality. So far Thelin is getting reasonable performances and good results from a squad that still looks quite a bit weaker than the one that finished last season. Neither Morris, nor Gueye, nor Sokler would have been first picks last season. Either these players have to start delivering better performances than they have so far, or we need to sign at least a couple of players that are upgrades. I'm optimistic that that will happen, but the idea that I or most Aberdeen fans are blown away by what we've seen so far isn't true.

I like her a lot, probably my favourite pop/rock/whatever artist out of those who've made their names post 2010 or thereabouts. My only criticism is that the post Norman Fucking Rockwell stuff doesn't hit the spot as often - it can seem a bit bloodless compared to her earlier work and more of an acquired taste. I hear her next album will be country/Americana and I'm intrigued by that.

Roos has been Jekyll and Hyde, extended runs of good form where he's looked as good or better than anybody we're likely to get and long runs of erratic form where he's looked like a guy it would be very difficult to build a solid defence around. I don't think we can afford the gamble of keeping him not knowing which version we will get. He hasn't helped his cause by clearly signalling that he wouldn't be staying when his form was decent and he expected to have options and then signalling his interest in staying when his form turned to shit and the options dried up.

It seems surprising to me as well. I would have thought that getting the manager right was the first priority and I don't find it hard to imagine that some candidates would baulk at the idea of reporting to Malky Mackay.

People talk about consistency, but while I agree more of that would be a good thing it isn't the main problem for me. It's that games are turning on events that are outside the players' control. We badly need to re-introduce the concept that a hand ball needs to be deliberate to be a foul. I've no problem with a penalty being awarded if a player sticks out his arms to "make himself big" and the ball hits his hand, but there needs to be an element of intentionality. I can see no other way of doing that than going back to letting referees decide whether in their opinion the player intentionally handled the ball or intentionally put his arms in a position that increased the chance of his team getting an advantage from the ball striking a hand or arm. Guidance about arms in "artificial positions" creates more problems than it solves. I know this means more reliance on referees' subjectivity, something that will always send a shiver up the spine of Scottish football fans who don't support one of two clubs, but it has to be better than what we have now.

I agree up to a point, but I'd like to know whose idea it was for the players to go to applaud the fans after a very poor performance and result. They did the same against St Johnstone at home. I get the reasoning behind it, shows the fans the players still care, but the inevitable outcome is the players get abused and humiliated, which must do their confidence no good and lessen their affection for the club's support. However well intentioned its a crass idea. Let's get back to trooping off the park with your tail between your legs after a bad result and letting management deal with the supporters' frustration.

There's a strong correlation between a manager having got to the point where he's routinely criticising his players in public and his team being in a freefall that can only be stopped by getting rid of him. It's generally the most obvious sign that the wheels have come off. You can theorise that these remarks don't or shouldn't matter and maybe they're indicative of the problem rather than the cause of it, but in my view we're well past the point where action needs to be taken. I'm not sure that a different manager would save us from relegation, but I think he'd have a better chance than Warnock.

If you really think that I have a bridge you might be interested in.

Just as embarrassing are claims I keep seeing from Celtic fans that the dice is loaded against them in the Champions League because the powers that be just want the big clubs to be successful. Excerpts from a Celtic fans' board during last night's match: I hate this competition, now. It’s so skewed towards ensuring the elite reach the latter stages, it’s barely competitive any more. Seems every year we get the "wee team" treatment. Yeah, [the referees] want to keep their job i..so will always rule in favour of the teams with the most money Marks for self awareness, as usual, a solid 0/10.