Bradley and USSF part ways

It was a year late for some US Men’s national team fans but today Bob Bradley was relieved of his duties.
It has a mirror image of my own club Aberdeen a few years back when they awarded a manager a 4 year contract and then fired him a year later.

I was not totally surprised after the embarrassing collapse in the Gold Cup final when the USA blew a 2-0 lead. It was clear a change was needed.

To be fair to Bradley he did give us a few highs, winning the Gold Cup and finishing 2nd in the Confederations cup but he never looked capable of taking us to the next level.
So who is the man to take us to that new level. Many people are talking about Jurgen Klinsmann, he turned us down once before because the directors of the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) wanted to much control and would not give Klinsmann a free rein to do things his way. Unless USSF change their attitude then even with a new man things may not change on the park.

Although many on the official USSF message board are happy to see the change, most have thanked Bob for his good work and wished him well for the future.
I also wish Bob the all the best for wherever his career may take him.

New Season, New Attitude, Same missed chances.

Aberdeen came into the new season with most of the fans feeling some optimism that we would see an improved side with the players Craig and Archie have brought in over the summer.
One new signing that was not fit for the game was Chris Clark.

We played well and were creating chances but I was always nervous that we would end up regretting our missed chances as has happened so often in the past.
We could have been 3 or 4 up at half time and if corners meant goals we would have been way ahead. St Johnstone changed it up a bit in the 2nd half and came at us a bit more, but in truth the Aberdeen defence looked comfortable.

The major turning point in the match was the red card to Ryan Jack for a late challenge on Murray Davidson, some people saying it was a bad challenge others saying it was a free kick and a yellow card at most. I will look forward to seeing it on the highlights.
(Having seen the highlights and listened to the players and managers thoughts it looks like it was a red card, the studs were a little high but I think it was just  a young player trying hard to win the ball)

Craig Brown has spoken about wanting to bring in a flair player and after seeing some of the missed chances I can see what he means. Hopefully said striker will be in place before our trip to St Mirren next weekend.

So not the flying start we had last season (but look how that turned out) but we need to remember that it is a marathon and not a race.

So in all I am disappointed with the 0-0 draw and the missed chances but pleased with the build up play and attitude of the team.

I would also like to mention Ricky Foster who got a hard time in one of the pre season games for going on loan to Rangers last season, he played well and had a few chances, he looked like (as someone on twitter said) a man on a mission.
Ricky was also voted man of the match Keep up the good work Captain Foster.
I was also impressed with Josh Magennis, our new signing’s impressed also. I don’t think we had a bad player in the team today.

Stand Free

Randy may Lern(er) how fickle us football fans can be.

Randy Lerner took a huge gamble today when he appointed Alex McLeish as manager of Aston Villa Football Club.

Villa are based in Birmingham England and have a heated rivalry with neighbors Birmingham City.

McLeish resigned from his job as Manager of Birmingham City last weekend and earlier today he joined their biggest rivals. For you people of Cleveland who do not get it, this would be like the Browns going and hiring the coach from the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Mcleish also has taken a gamble as the fans who once loved him now hate him with a passion and the fans of his new club are not going to give him time to settle in. If he does not get a good start to the season they will be calling for his head and possibly that of Lerner’s.

Villa Fans have already been protesting about the appointment even before it was made official.

Could be an interesting year at Villa Park

Stand Free

>USA going for Gold

>The Gold Cup is CONCACAF’s version of the European Championships. 
This years competition is hosted by the USA, and runs from June 5th to June 25th.


The Stars and Stripes have been drawn in Group C and will face next door neighbours Canada in the first game. 
Group c also includes Panama and Guadeloupe.


One of the other Favourites for the Gold Cup is Mexico who are in Group A and will play Costa Rica, El Salvador and Cuba.


The Reggie boys Jamaica, Honduras, Grenada and Guatemala make up the rest of the teams trying to win the trophy which  was first played for in 1991.


The USA currently have four Gold Cups to their name and if they make it number five they will tie Mexico for the most wins.


You can find out more about the Gold cup by going to http://www.goldcup.org/page/GoldCup/Home/0,,12802,00.html


Stand Free

>The only way is up

>I predicted before the game that we would lose to Hearts today, But I was not expecting a result like this.
Tynecastle is always a tough place to go and it takes a huge performance to take the points. But 5-0 is totally unacceptable.

I had hoped that the pending arrival of Craig Brown and Archie Knox would have given the Dons players a confidence boost, and it looked like it had as Aberdeen came out fighting ans seemed to be all over Hearts for the first five minutes.
But Hearts went up the park and scored with their first attack, There was some debate that the ball did not cross the line but the commentators on Red TV said that it could have been a penalty before the goal was given.
Hearts were really going at our weakness of having no full backs and the 2nd goal like the first came after they run at Ifil. The game was dead by the 10th minute and Brown and Knox must have been sitting in the stand thinking What have we done.

David and Steven from Red TV were arguing with each other at one point David saying the Dons had “No Bloody Confidence” and Steven arguing that it was not confidence it was that the players were “Just not trying, How hard is it to make a tackle to try and  stop Hearts scoring”.

Craig Brown’s list of Players just not good enough will be getting longer and longer and I can only say roll on January and the opening of the transfer window.
I can see some players being moved on if people will take them and hopefully a few free transfers or loan players coming in to see us through the second half of the season.

The result today means we are now bottom of the SPL with Hamilton not even kicking a ball.
As Red TV said the only way is up.

Aberdeen are a mess and the fans need to have patience with Brown and Knox and not expect dramatic results right away. But hopefully these embarrassing scores will end now and we can scrape a few wins to take us out of the relegation zone.

Good Luck Craig Brown and Archie Knox, you are going to need it.

Stand Free