Stewart Milne backs Mark McGhee to salvage Aberdeen

Published on Wednesday 17 February 2010 23:24

STEWART Milne has backed Aberdeen manager Mark McGhee to recover from the club's latest cup humiliation and stressed that no-one was "expecting miracles" just eight months into his tenure.

• Aberdeen manager Mark McGhee is jeered out of Pittodrie by irate supporters after Tuesday night's defeat by Raith Rovers

The Aberdeen chairman has himself come under fire since Tuesday's 1-0 loss to Raith Rovers at Pittodrie in the Active Nation Scottish Cup. It is the fifth time in four seasons that Aberdeen have been knocked out of a domestic cup competition by a lower-division team. McGhee's appointment last summer following Jimmy Calderwood's departure had been designed to improve on such a poor record but instead a new low has been reached: September's 3-2 defeat to Dundee in the Co-operative Insurance Cup means the Dons have crashed to First Division sides twice in the one season.

McGhee has spoken of feeling "betrayed" by those players who excelled during the 4-4 draw against Celtic as recently as Saturday, but who again failed to justify their tag of favourites on Tuesday night. And Milne yesterday said the players had to look at themselves and ask whether they had the mental strength to perform in games they are expected to win.

"Mark came in to do a job," said Milne. "No-one was expecting miracles overnight. I believe he has made good progress so far this season. I am concerned by the lack of consistency just as Mark and the board are. But we have seen enough to believe he will get that consistency out of the team. That may well mean further changes to the squad in the summer-time."

Milne was in agreement with McGhee's take on this latest cup setback but did not believe that his outspoken comments will cause a rift between the manager and the dressing room.

"As far as I know Mark has a good relationship with the players," he said. "He has been clear about what he is trying to do since he came into the club. I believe he has made good progress."

He added: "It is being honest with players. The reality is that we all have times in life that we find difficult. Maybe the players do find it difficult to perform in games like last night. If these guys have issues in performing in games like last night then they have to be honest and open about it. I have no doubt that in the coming weeks Mark will be having open and honest discussions with certain players. But that doesn't mean he has a bad relationship with them."

Milne conceded that Tuesday's defeat to Raith was as disappointing a result as he could remember since becoming chairman in 1998. But it was just the latest notable reversal since McGhee took charge in the summer. Falkirk won at Pittodrie for the first time in 52 years last month, while Raith's victory was their first at the ground since 1960. However, Milne insisted he did not regret McGhee's appointment and pointed to the recent draws with Celtic and Hibs and a 3-0 win over Hearts in Edinburgh.

"It is very easy to focus on the negative things," he said. "There has to be a balance. Mark would be the first to say that at this point in time he would like to have seen more progress. I think what he has done is demonstrate that he has a squad of players capable of performing and delivering results. The real issue and the big challenge for Mark is to get that on a consistent basis."

Give manager funds or lose the fans

CRAIG STEWART

ANOTHER year, another cup humiliation. This is happening with such regularity that it should be printed into next year's official AFC calendar, with a fold-out manager's "worst result of my life" quote and pop-up directorial statement of support.

Embarrassing losses to lower-league clubs Queen's Park, Queen of the South, Dunfermline and Dundee join 4-1 humblings by Dundee United and Hibs in a tale of cup catastrophes that stretches back to the start of Jimmy Calderwood's reign. But things were supposed to be different this season...

So what went wrong this time? How can the team that scored six goals against two of the top three clubs in the SPL within the previous seven days fail to put a single ball past a struggling First Division club, missing key players and whose keeper shipped four at the weekend? It's bewildering.

Most dumbfounding is how Aberdeen can have a complete revolution of management staff and a fair dose of player changes from the defeat to the Pars in the same competition 11 months ago, yet exactly the same happens. Both times we have had 180 minutes to dispose of a First Division team – and failed.

So what has remained the same? Aberdeen's board of directors for one. They recognised that Calderwood could not take the club forward in a way acceptable to them and the fans. Good, well done. They got a manager in who they felt could. Fine. However, they have failed to back that manager with money.

The board did open the cobweb-riddled safe in January; unfortunately it was to put 600,000 from the sale of Lee Miller in rather than fund any new permanent players. Mark McGhee must get a public assurance from the board now that he will have serious cash to spend in summer. If he does not get that, then what does that say about the board's lack of confidence in the new man? How can he continue without the board's financial support?

Without this assurance, and instead merely the bland platitudes and non-specific 'support' for McGhee that Stewart Milne gave when interviewed yesterday, expect to see more fans drift away and season tickets go unrenewed.

A fellow long-suffering supporter frequently tells me after occasions like Tuesday night's that he signed a pact with the Devil on the evening Aberdeen beat Bayern Munich in 1983, when we were 2-1 down. In return for us winning that game, he has to endure a lifetime of humiliating dross. Time to renegotiate that contract.

• Craig Stewart is The Scotsman's SPL Fanzone correspondent and editor of aberdeen-mad.co.uk