What sort of benefit to anybody is it to complain to the police? Okay, the linesman shouldn't have allowed himself to react to the provocation, but he's only human. Why people can't take the incident as part and parcel of the day out and forget about it is hard to understand and impossible to sympathise with. The people who shopped the boy need to get a life or else take up going somewhere where they won't be so easily offended. Mind you, if they are that easily upset they probably don't have anywhere that they can safely go without being driven into apoplexys of rage by people doing provocative things like walking along the street or blowing their nose.
17th March - Just how many games does a player have to play before he can be classed as "experienced"? How old does he have to be? Where is the mysterious invisible line that gets crossed and sees the classification change from raw youth to old war-horse? Fair questions?
The Derek Whyte saga has brought this wee spate of questions to the surface, because our old friends the west coast press have started telling us what a big mistake Ebbe is making in letting Del Boy move on at the end of the season. The interesting statistic though, is that of the 4 games Whyte has missed this season, we have lost only one (where another old hand - Solberg - stood in for him) and two of those that we won were away from home (where we haven't done too well in the side). Not that DW hasn't made a useful contribution this season, he has played better than over the last couple and clearly has a positive influence over the dressing room and the younger players. However it has to be said that they have had a positive effect on him too and its the youngsters who have brought a great team spirit back into the club.
As to experience, well if you scan the table here, you'll find that our youthful squad has, in the main, stowed a lot of first team games under their belts and look to be learning plenty as they go - there's room for improvement but they seem like the kind of guys that can manage it:
|
Played |
Goals |
|
| Russell Anderson | 128 | 2 |
| Rachid Belabed (he'll be back) | 57 | 1 |
| Chris Clark | 25 | |
| Ryan Esson | 51 | |
| Darren Mackie | 64 | 11 |
| Jamie McAllister | 101 | 1 |
| Phil McGuire | 75 | 2 |
| Kevin McNaughton | 76 | |
| Leon Mike | 4 | 2 |
| Ross O'Donoghue | 3 | |
| Kevin Rutkiewicz | 21 | |
| Fergus Tiernan | 22 | |
| Darren Young | 123 | 5 |
| Derek Young | 87 | 10 |
That's not bad and you can add some Under 21 and Youth International appearances for some of the too. Okay, they are hardly battle scarred veterans yet, but most of them have been through hard times and come out on top. These are the guys who, ably assisted by Bisconti, Winters, Guntveit, Kjaer, Dadi and Thornley as well as Whyte, have brought the Redz back into the light. Of course there is always room for a couple of older players, but don't underestimate the ability of this squad to keep us at the top end of the league.
Whyte will move on in a quest for better money than the Dons are prepared to pay him, but he'll be lucky to find it at his age. Maybe the best thing he could do would be to ditch his agent to save the commission and go back to Ebbe asking for the contract he's been offered. He won't do better elsewhere and he knows his family would be happy to stay. All that and a promise of a coaching job. Come on Del Boy - you know it makes sense.
Keith Wyness gets a break from negotiating players contracts
After last Saturday's excellent performance against Dundee, Russell Anderson should be allowed to stay in central defence at the expense of soon to depart Derek Whyte. The fact is that Whyte wasn't missed at Dens and Anderson was the man who demonstrated that Ebbe's favoured corner kick routine really can work a treat. How many goals has Whyte scored for us in his 150 appearances? None. That alone gives Anderson better credentials and of course, he'll be with us next season which makes it important that he spends as much time in the team as he possibly can.
As for Zerouali's transfer listing, well, he is a fantastic player sometimes and would look great in a team that was crushing everybody they played, but the Dons need guys who will contribute all the time and Zero can't be credited with that. He is an artist when he's in the mood, but we haven't been seeing that side of him and even if some people might try and claim that he hasn't been given the chance, it has to be admitted that when he has been brought onto the filed in recent weeks he's looked lost and has failed to put himself high in the manager's thinking. Add to that the constant absences on international duties and the equation spits out the answer that Zero is a luxury that AFC just can't afford. best of luck to him wherever he goes, but don't hold your breath waiting for him to hit the headlines.
Dundee deserved nothing after their catalogue of diving and sleekit fouling that referee Kenny Clark, Paisley, chose to ignore. Quite why a top referee would choose to ignore the many illegal actions perpetrated by Dundee will probably remain a mystery, but he got a hell of a lot wrong. His booking of McAllister was unjust and the blatant dive by Ketsbaia for the penalty was right out of the cheat's textbook. On top of that, Dundee players were committing head-high tackles, elbowing, kicking and tripping with gay abandon, frequently right under Clark's nose without any action being taken. Clark has been around for a long time, so let's hope he will be retired soon and save us having to put up with his ineptitude any longer.
The alleged controversy of Darren Mackie's winning goal needs a bit of examination. Beghetto is supposed to have headed clear if you want to believe some of the Sunday papers, but he headed clear from about a foot behind the goal line - as easily spotted by the linesman and most of the crowd. Why then was it controversial? Only because Dundee's players pressed on with their gamesmanship to the last and moaned about the goal because they new in themselves that they had no other way of salvaging something from the game.
Incidentally, if Ketsbaia has been reported to the police for giving two fingers to some Dons fans at half time, what is going to happen to the two lumpen articles that were involved in the kiddies penalty shoot out at the Dons' end of the pitch, also at half time. One of them was constantly offering a barrage of two-fingered salutes to us and the other seemed to be trying to market his anatomy for sexual purposes, though nobody can be sure. It'll be interesting to see whether tv evidence will be used to capture these fiends in tracksuits. Then again, did anybody give a toss about what they were up to?
If the SFA are prepared to use the evidence of cameras to pin down Balde, as they have already done with Ricksen, then they must equally be ready to review film that can clear a player's name. Giving the referee the benefit of the doubt, he probably made a genuine mistake but he will have seen the televised version of the match and know that he got it wrong. When he submits his report to the SFA he should draw their attention to the TV coverage and request that the sending off be expunged from Zero's record. It might even be that he would feel that Thomson should have got off with a yellow card, maybe not, that's for Celtic to worry about. Aberdeen though should agitate to have the case reviewed right away so that Zero is free for selection next Saturday when the Dons go to Dens for what is an extremely important match for them in their quest not only for a top six place but also for a high enough finish to get them into European football next season.
