Teuchter

You are right about lazy journalism in the sense that they all blindly regurgitate the Premiership year zero approach and disregard all history before that. I see that Michael Owen is classed as a failure despite scoring 30 goals in 79 games for Newcastle. Not the worst strike rate. Had they went back before 1992, Kozma would have inevitably been mentioned. He has cropped up on a few of these lists.

You mention the TV, and I think that is a large part of the problem. If the games were available free to view, at least a lot more people would at least have the option to casually follow the team and not lose touch.

Not Sérgio Duarte - although he gets a mention - but during 1960s. From today’s Scotsman. I had never heard about this before. Does anyone remember this? https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/when-celtic-and-dunfermline-were-thrall-boys-brazil-2962765

One of the guys apparently has St Pauli connections - which at least is more reassuring than, say, Lithuanian ex submariner. https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Meggle&prev=search&pto=aue

Agreed. We have a policy to bring on young players. He would be a good signing for Kelty or East Fife however.

A tap in. Classic cup final winner in its’ own way.

8-2 Bruté

Statement from the players: https://www.afc.co.uk/2020/08/08/players-statement/ First and foremost we would like to apologise to every AFC fan, the manager, everyone at the Club, the football authorities, the First Minister, all healthcare workers along with everyone else that has worked tirelessly around the clock to get the country, and in particular football, back up and running again. We, as a small group of players, made a huge error of judgement last weekend by thinking it was ok to visit a city centre venue together. None of us could have foreseen the escalation of Covid-19 cases in the Grampian area, nor did we deliberately attempt to flout or disobey Government guidelines which we all must adhere to, or indeed the clear guidelines set out by the club. This was by no means a team night out as has been portrayed and while we attempted to comply with Government social distancing guidelines, we now recognise that our group of 8 exceeded the number of households permitted to meet up. This was a genuine error on our part as professional football players, and in doing so, we have let our manager down. As players we appreciate our Club has gone above and beyond to put protocols in place to protect us and it was never our intention to put those in jeopardy, or to put our teammates or football staff at risk. As a player group, we once again apologise unreservedly to the fans, the manager, the Board and all the staff at the Club. Jonny Hayes, Michael Devlin, Scott McKenna, Matty Kennedy, Sam Cosgrove, Dylan McGeouch, Craig Bryson, Bruce Anderson.

Noticed that. Long may it continue.

Desperate stuff here. Going to a packed nightclub that was documented to be flouting the rules, on a Saturday night, shows naivety at best. As players out on the town, their presence would not go unnoticed. I wonder if Dundee United’s recent press release about not approaching players is inspired by the experience of the Aberdeen players.

Unusual times in that football is being played in empty stadiums and that footballers are under a great deal of scrutiny regarding Covid 19. The fact that they have been named and shamed is not a surprise - and this forms a big part of their idiocy. The went out, breaking club / football authority rules and knowingly taking risks. They knew that they would tested and that the club has to disclose any cases. They are in the public eye. It is fairly obvious that it would come to light. Had they went anywhere else other than the Soul Bar they would have, in all likelihood, been ok. The fact that Covid is mild in the under 30s is neither here nor there in their case. In current circumstances, a footballer contracting it is unavailable for selection. In normal circumstances, I am fairly sure that footballers avoid / are banned from certain activities to minimise the risk of injuries. Covid at the moment is the equivalent of having an injury. As for the wider debate, it could be argued that the lockdown saved hospitals form being overwhelmed - we won’t know for sure. Since then, there has been a widespread change in behaviour - social distancing, hand washing, mask wearing etc - and, without reading much about it, I have noticed that the raw stats indicate that countries experiencing spikes in cases (eg France or Germany) are not seeing the numbers result in the same death rates as before - so I would be inclined to believe what you say about the disease in general. In some ways, a few outbreaks across the continent will not be a bad thing, as it should help produce enough information as to how far and how quickly restrictions can be lifted. We tend to forget how new this is and that the truth is we just don’t know for sure how to deal with it.

You talk about scapegoats, but at the same time peddle an unverified story about one guy! I don’t get what you are saying about contracts and socialising - have you not noticed that these are very unusual times that we are living in? Footballers when playing in a game are being special dispensation to break the rules by having physical contact with the opposing team. That is why normal rules are not applying to them. Given the situation they are in, minimising risk would make more sense than not even acknowledging - assuming for a minute the story you tell is true - that the irresponsibility of just one person could screw up an entire city. You talk like there is no pandemic.

There are very clear rules regarding social distancing and general conduct when out. These rules went out of the window in Aberdeen City centre at the weekend - probably all around the country. They don’t deserve vile abuse, but condemnation seems fair enough as they have behaved like ****holes given the current circumstances. The whole city is suffering because of bellends like them. It is unfortunate for them that they are high profile, but perhaps all the more reason why going out during a pandemic was idiotic.

The Aberdeen fans are moaning hoors at the best of times. This will have turbocharged the forums - quite rightly. Players going out after a defeat to Rangers will particularly wind them up. It is not just Aberdeen it will cause problems for.

Maybe he’s in Sinn Fein