I deserved it, says Mark McGhee as Aberdeen fan spits at him

Published on Wednesday 17 February 2010 01:01

ABERDEEN manager Mark McGhee last night claimed he "deserved" to be spat at by his own supporters following his side's Active Nation Scottish Cup fifth-round replay defeat against Raith Rovers.

He described the 1-0 loss "as the worst defeat of my 800-odd games as a manager" and the walk to the dressing rooms from the technical area at full-time as "the most humiliating experience of my life".

As he made his way to the tunnel, he was spat on, and had scarves and paper thrown at him, yet he says he took his time doing so.

"I wanted them to have their say, I felt they deserved to vent their anger and deserved the opportunity to vent it at me," he said.

"I don't want any enquiries or any post-mortems of who spat, who threw paper, or who was shouting. We deserved it, and I had a part to play in it as well. I wasn't out there playing, but beforehand I had the opportunity to talk to them so clearly I didn't get my message to them."

McGhee, though, damned his players as being unable to take on board the messages he wants to impart. "It has nothing to do with weight of expectation or jinxes it is to do with the mentality of the players," he said of his team being "outplayed, outfought, in every position on every occasion".

"The mentality of the players is faulty, there is something that is not right. It has been my job to change things here and this merely confirms I need to change the mentality and change the squad. It is why I have not been kidded when we had a 4-4 game with Celtic, or beaten Hearts at Tynecastle. Because you cannot trust these players, you don't know what's coming next, and a manager can't have that."

And McGhee gives no headroom to the prospect of the players bringing him down; of change being demanded in his position before he can change the players. "That will not happen. I will not let it happen. I will change it," he maintained sternly.

Opposite number John McGlynn, unsurprisingly, put the result at the opposite end of his footballing spectrum. "It is my best result ever," he said, remembering Raith Rovers were second bottom of the Second Division when he took over.

The circumstances made it a win that "just shows the craziness of football." McGlynn explained how his team faced "blow after blow" in their preparation. Captain Mark Campbell was hospitalised with head and leg cuts following a car crash on Monday at lunchtime. Then Dougie Hill was lost in the warm-up, forcing Stephen Simmons to play at centre-back for the first time since he was 17. Then, 25 minutes in, the injured Johnny Russell had to make way for Darren Smith, who had only trained for half an hour in the week before because of flu.

"It is amazing what we achieved and I could not be prouder of the players," McGlynn said. "It just showed our resilience and character. On Saturday we lost 4-0 at home to a good Inverness team, but tonight we limited Aberdeen, who had just scored four goals against a strong Celtic team.

"The lads were doing it for Mark, and I am delighted for them, for the directors, and the fans, all 700 who came through and chanted all the way through."