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Ifil’s no-nonsense defending is the beauty of The Beast

 

By Alex Martin

 

Published: 13/08/2009

 

The Beast has found his bearings, and Aberdeen, and Dons new signing Jerel Ifil is ready for his SPL debut against Celtic at Pittodrie on Saturday.

 

The 27-year-old defender has agreed a two-year contract after his release by English League 1 Swindon Town on Tuesday.

 

He admits to knowing precious little about his new home, the SPL or even Saturday’s opponents. The former Watford player, who earned his nickname during five years at the County Ground, said: “When the manager, Danny Wilson, told me about Aberdeen’s interest I had to Google it.

 

“I thought ‘Wow, it’s up there and to the right’. I’ve heard it gets cold and I have been told I won’t need sunscreen – no problem.

 

“I had no thoughts of moving. I was hoping to break back into the Swindon first team and I felt quite confident of doing it, so I didn’t really have a problem. But the manager felt it was an opportunity for me to better myself and relieve their wage bill. Sometimes things happen for a reason and when you see an opportunity you’ve got to take it.â€

 

Ifil, whose brother Phil came through the ranks at Spurs and is now at Colchester, is on a learning curve.

 

He added: “I don’t know much about the Scottish game. I haven’t watched a SPL game. I’ve done a little research now but it’s a game of football. There might be little differences but the objectives are the same. I feel I’ll be able to fit in. They say it’s a bit more physical – I don’t mind that.

 

“It took me two days to decide to come to Aberdeen. I am bringing my whole family with me. There wasn’t much persuasion and my wife has been very positive about the move. That helps. My kids are five and two and they can adapt easily. I find Aberdeen a very professional club. They try to look after you. It isn’t like this at Swindon. It is a bigger club here and it is a welcome change for me.â€

 

As an intelligent and articulate father of two, Ifil’s nickname of The Beast does not sit well.

 

The defender, who will wear the number 22 shirt, explained: “I was on loan at Swindon a couple of times and in training I went through a couple of players, hurting them. They named me The Beast to the press who wrote it and the supporters took it on. My mother-in-law doesn’t like it but it’s just a name. In my first three years at Swindon I was sent off two or three times in a season. That gave me a reputation and referees were inclined to come down hard on me. In the last couple of seasons I’ve calmed down.†:hammer:

 

Dons manager Mark McGhee watched Ifil in action during the Dean Windass testimonial match against Hull at the KC Stadium on Sunday and immediately knew he could be on to a winner.

 

McGhee said: “He is coming from the lower reaches of the English leagues so we don’t imagine he’s John Terry. But he’s a natural, aggressive defender which is what we need and he will win headers in both boxes.

 

“He took on Daniel Cousin last weekend in our game at Hull and beat him up in a way I’ve not seen any other player in Scotland do.† :thumbsup:

 

McGhee is hoping Ifil can use his time at Pittodrie as a stepping-stone to the upper reaches of the game in England and added: “He sees this is a chance to get to a higher level of football and is ambitious.â€

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It does say in the EE that McGhee will decide over the next 2 days who to offer deals to.

does he want to decide a bit quicker

Sturrock will already be on the phone to their agents.

 

I fear that despite the constant bullshit from afc about 4 signings that we'll be lucky to get one more before the 31st

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does he want to decide a bit quicker

Sturrock will already be on the phone to their agents.

 

I fear that despite the constant bullshit from afc about 4 signings that we'll be lucky to get one more before the 31st

 

Could be that McGhee is waiting until closer to the end of the transfer window. The wage costs on these guys will likely reduce as the door slams shut and they are potentially without significant employment. Although we are feeling the panic of a thin squad I still think that dropping your drawers to any potential recruits is never a commercially shrewd move.

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Could be that McGhee is waiting until closer to the end of the transfer window. The wage costs on these guys will likely reduce as the door slams shut and they are potentially without significant employment. Although we are feeling the panic of a thin squad I still think that dropping your drawers to any potential recruits is never a commercially shrewd move.

 

Conversely it has been well documented how desperate we are to make signings. Getting targets, trials and medicals all take time and getting them organised before the transfer deadline is very difficult indeed. Its highly likely that the players named here are the only ones we'll be looking at and so I'm sure the agents representing them are well aware of our situation. Not to say that we'll be dropping drawers, but we need to show our hand at some point and make a move. This slow dance around deadline day isn't desirable for anyone IMO.

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Conversely it has been well documented how desperate we are to make signings. Getting targets, trials and medicals all take time and getting them organised before the transfer deadline is very difficult indeed. Its highly likely that the players named here are the only ones we'll be looking at and so I'm sure the agents representing them are well aware of our situation. Not to say that we'll be dropping drawers, but we need to show our hand at some point and make a move. This slow dance around deadline day isn't desirable for anyone IMO.

 

We don't have any idea what stage discussions are at though. We don't know if wages have been discussed and their demands exceeded our budget and there are ongoing negotiations to get them down. We don't know if the any of these guys have been offered deals and are going off to think them through. We don't know if they spent 4 days at Pittodrie and thought better of it. We don't know what has been said or what offers have or have not been made. A deal might be 24 hours away, it might be 10 days away, it might not exist.

 

What we do know is that we know fuck all. We sit in our houses or at our work places and make assumptions driven by our feelings of frustration and in some cases desperation.You can speculate about how incompetent Miller is in doing a quick deal, or how much 'dancing' McGhee is doing but at the end of the day we still know shit. Yet persist in claiming to know how it should be done.

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We don't have any idea what stage discussions are at though. We don't know if wages have been discussed and their demands exceeded our budget and there are ongoing negotiations to get them down. We don't know if the any of these guys have been offered deals and are going off to think them through. We don't know if they spent 4 days at Pittodrie and thought better of it. We don't know what has been said or what offers have or have not been made. A deal might be 24 hours away, it might be 10 days away, it might not exist.

 

What we do know is that we know fuck all. We sit in our houses or at our work places and make assumptions driven by our feelings of frustration and in some cases desperation.You can speculate about how incompetent Miller is in doing a quick deal, or how much 'dancing' McGhee is doing but at the end of the day we still know shit. Yet persist in claiming to know how it should be done.

 

We'll since you're quoting me, I'll kindly ask you to point out where I'm "persisting to claim to know how it should be done"?

 

Your claim that wage costs will likely reduce as the door slams shut is just as much speculation  or "pish" as anyone else's.

 

 

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We don't have any idea what stage discussions are at though. We don't know if wages have been discussed and their demands exceeded our budget and there are ongoing negotiations to get them down. We don't know if the any of these guys have been offered deals and are going off to think them through. We don't know if they spent 4 days at Pittodrie and thought better of it. We don't know what has been said or what offers have or have not been made. A deal might be 24 hours away, it might be 10 days away, it might not exist.

 

What we do know is that we know fuck all. We sit in our houses or at our work places and make assumptions driven by our feelings of frustration and in some cases desperation.You can speculate about how incompetent Miller is in doing a quick deal, or how much 'dancing' McGhee is doing but at the end of the day we still know shit. Yet persist in claiming to know how it should be done.

 

So what are you trying to say?

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We'll since you're quoting me, I'll kindly ask you to point out where I'm "persisting to claim to know how it should be done"?

 

Your claim that wage costs will likely reduce as the door slams shut is just as much speculation  or "pish" as anyone else's.

 

 

 

Don't take it personally, I only hit the quote button as you were last to post. I did paraphrase the word 'dancing' as it seemed to allude to the subject I was exploring in my comments. That doesn't necessarily mean you need conclude that you are individually guilty of everything I then say subsequently. However, if it makes you feel better then I can see no evidence of you "persisting to claim to know how it should be done"?

 

My point is a general one and there are endless posts dedicated to criticising the club and its management for the way it negotiates transfers and contracts. In my opinion, we should be more objective in our judgements as we don't know what is going on behind the scenes (well except Jager of course).

 

I take your point that speculation that maybe McGhee is doing the right thing by holding off and not jumping in without thinking could be just as "pish" as the speculation that he is wasting time and opening himself up to being mugged again. I would say however, that by using the term 'we' in my criticism I was kind of in agreement with your point already as that tends to suggest I included myself in the accused population. It is, as you say all speculation. The key difference probably being that I'm right.  ;)

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