Mark McGhee must stay at Dons - says critic Joe Harper

[mizer]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aberdeen/8573725.stm

 

Former Aberdeen striker Joe Harper describes Mark McGhee's record of 10 games without a win as "terrible" but says he must remain as Dons manager.

 

Tuesday's 1-0 defeat by St Johnstone leaves Aberdeen struggling to finish in the top six at the end of the season.

 

"They have brought Mark in and they have got to at least give him until next year," said Harper.

 

"But the club have to give him some money to buy up and coming young players from the lower divisions."

 

Harper has been a vocal critic of both the decision to sack previous manager Jimmy Calderwood and the performances by the players this season.

 

Previous to Tuesday's Scottish Premier League defeat, Aberdeen had won eight of McGhee's first 33 games in charge compared to the 17 achieved in Calderwood's opening spell at Pittodrie.

 

McGhee's record is also worse than other recent managers - Steve Paterson (14 wins), Ebbe Skovdahl (11), Willie Miller (15), Alex Miller (10) and Roy Aitken (18).

 

And Harper believes that a change in personnel similar to one he experienced as a player at Pittodrie was now required come the summer.

 

"When I went to Aberdeen in 1969, Eddie Turnbull came in two years later and the first thing he did at the end of the season was get rid of 20 players," Harper told BBC Scotland.

 

"That's what Mark's got to do. He's got to be brave.

 

"Mark's talking about bringing in 10 players - 10 players that are better than what we've got.

 

"I would like to know how he is going to do that as he does not have money to spend. You can't get them for nothing."

 

Harper urged director of football Willie Miller to "get off his backside" to drum up financial support from the Aberdeen business community to bolster funding already coming from owner Stewart Milne.

 

Indeed, the former Dons striker recalled the reasons Miller gave for the axing of Calderwood - because the board thought he had taken Aberdeen as far as he could and that they needed a manager capable of leading the club to a higher level.

 

"This is not about Mark McGhee," said Harper. "The people who are to blame are the directors, Stewart Milne, Willie Miller, right through, because they made the change for whatever reason.

 

"The truth of the matter is that what Jimmy Calderwood did for the previous five years was quite astonishing with the players he had.

 

"The only thing that got Jimmy Calderwood the sack was the two semi-finals they got knocked out of.

 

"They had stability and, in the five years he was there, he had made the top six every year and had got into Europe in the last two years.

 

"The success Jimmy had in Europe, getting into the last 32, brought the deficit at the club down by £5m."

 

Harper thought that most of the players had shown they did not have sufficient character to play for a club of Aberdeen's stature.

 

Teenagers Fraser Fyvie and Peter Pawlett, goalkeeper Jamie Langfield, captain Mark Kerr and fit-again defender Zander Diamond escaped criticism from Harper, who thought that only "four or five" of the present squad were worth keeping.

 

Harper questioned the quality of McGhee signings like Davide Grassi, Jerel Ifil and Gary McDonald.

 

"I think they have been terrible," said Harper, who also thought McGhee had been wrong to criticise the Aberdeen fans for their reaction to recent defeats.

 

"What he has effectively done is put a noose round his neck and it's tightening by the day."

 

McGhee has also publicly criticised his players and former Rangers and Hearts midfielder Derek Ferguson thought it was an indication of dressing-room unrest and an unwillingness to play for the manager.

 

"I have spoken to Scott Leitch and he raved about Mark's training methods, but I think them being in seven days a week is a bit of a culture shock for the Aberdeen boys," said Ferguson of McGhee's assistant.

 

"Things like that do take time, but unfortunately, these days, you don't get that time and hopefully he can ride out the storm and start afresh next season."

[BobbyBiscuit]

Harper questioned the quality of McGhee signings like Davide Grassi, Jerel Ifil and Gary McDonald.

 

 

 

McGhee has also publicly criticised his players and former Rangers and Hearts midfielder Derek Ferguson thought it was an indication of dressing-room unrest and an unwillingness to play for the manager.

 

Strange choice of person to take a quote from on Aberdeen.

[Kowalski]

By Harper's standards, it's a reasonable read, however:

 

"But the club have to give him some money to buy up and coming young players from the lower divisions."

 

While it would be great to see some more good young players in the team, our experienced ones aren't doing the business and I think we need to try and recruit some new, more experienced players as well as looking at up and coming players.

 

Harper urged director of football Willie Miller to "get off his backside" to drum up financial support from the Aberdeen business community to bolster funding already coming from owner Stewart Milne.

 

Is this suggesting that Milne has put more money in?