McGhee: I cannot wait for the clearout

[mizer]

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/2900040/I-cannot-wait-for-clearout.html

 

MARK McGHEE is set to dump an entire team of Aberdeen flops in the summer.

 

Gaffer McGhee's patience has finally snapped after a shocking run which is now 11 games without a win as their season has collapsed.

 

Now only a drastic overhaul of the playing staff can put things right - and McGhee is relishing the cull that lies ahead.

 

He lost hitman Lee Miller to Middlesbrough and he is unlikely to have the cash to keep loan signings Steven MacLean and Jim Paterson beyond May.

 

Several fringe players will be dumped and McGhee, above, has warned current top-team players they could also be ditched as he swings the axe.

 

McGhee said: "I'm very positive about the fact we are coming to a point where I will be able to change things.

 

"I am going to have the chance soon to really put my stamp on this job which is partly to do with a natural cull. If people want to leave then they can and I am looking forward to that and I am getting ready by preparing lists of names.

 

"I am hoping Mark Kerr might stay but he might go and it appears Gary McDonald and Charlie Mulgrew have decided they are leaving.

 

"There are boys who have only been here for a year like Davide Grassi, Stuart Nelson and Paul Marshall so the numbers start to go up.

 

"Then you have Jim Paterson and Steve MacLean who are likely to go back to Plymouth because of the costs involved.

 

"I think it's important we start next season with a totally fresh outlook which of course includes some of the players already here.

 

"I have to decide if the players under contract still have a role to play and if they don't then I have to try to change them as well. But I am not going to be panicked into anything just because the fans want to hear I have signed someone.

 

"I can't afford to compromise as I was brought here to build a team around the young lads and I need players who can help them rather than just play alongside them."

 

Failure to beat Dundee United at Pittodrie today will equal the worst run in Aberdeen's history.

 

Dons stopper Jerel Ifil admits confidence is rock bottom.

 

He said: "Morale isn't as good as it could be but we are all professionals and you can't let things affect you too much.

 

"It's up to us to stop dwelling on the bad run and look for the positives.

 

"It wasn't a nice experience for me being relegated at Swindon but it happened and the important thing is we bounced back the following year."

 

:hammer:

 

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/scottishpremier/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/10/03/19/SOCCER_Aberdeen_Nightlead.html&TEAMHD=scotspremiership

 

An angry Mark McGhee has hit out at talk of a crisis at Aberdeen, despite the club's season threatening to unravel completely.

 

The Dons go into Saturday's Clydesdale Bank Premier League clash with Dundee United having failed to win any of their last 10 games in all competitions.

 

They are now in real danger of failing to finish in the Clydesdale Bank Premier Scottish League top six on top of crashing out of the Active Nation Scottish Cup to Raith Rovers last month.

 

It means McGhee has won just eight of his 34 competitive games in charge.

 

"What is the crisis? That we've not made the top six - yet? That we've not won for 10 games?" said the Dons boss, who earlier this week insisted it would be "grossly unfair" were he to be sacked as manager.

 

"I don't know exactly what the crisis is - there's no crisis here.

 

"There's a lot of disappointment, but there's no crisis."

 

Defending his side's displays over the last two months, he added: "It wouldn't be 11 bad performances in a row.

 

"It would probably be six or seven. There are lies, damned lies and statistics. It's where you finish that's the most important thing.

"Chances are, if Lee Miller had stayed, we would've won four points, if not six points more."

 

Of Saturday's match, he added: "Believe it or not, I am looking forward to it.

 

"It's a huge test. If we were coming in on the back of 10 wins, this game would be a big test.

 

"I'm looking for something to give us a bit more of an edge and hopefully a derby game will do that."

 

The Aberdeen supporters have not held back in venting their frustration at McGhee and his troops in recent weeks and the Dons boss accepts it is up to his players to win them round tomorrow.

 

"I think we can create an atmosphere if we make a good start, a positive start," he said.

 

"If we were to get the first goal - for instance - I think the atmosphere would be there.

 

"Given the run we've just been on, we can't expect the fans to turn up and create the atmosphere without help.

 

"We've got to earn their respect again."

 

So we are so shit as we sold a strikers who couldn't score?

[tsr]

Imo;

 

Mark Kerr is a good player, I was pleased he signed and he had a great season last year. Performances such as Tynecastle this season proves this.

 

Lee Miller had so much to his game and your off your head if you don't think him leaving has made a difference.

[baggy89]

I don't know exactly what the crisis is - there's no crisis here.

[manc_don]

My jaw hit the ground when i read that bit too baggy. Where the hell is his head at?

[BobbyBiscuit]

Mark McGhee is drawing up a list of 100 potential targets he believes could strengthen his Aberdeen squad.

 

The Dons boss has been criticised during the club's 10-game winless run in the Scottish Premier League.

 

"I'll have done my homework on them, will have spoken to their agents and know exactly how much they'll want to come here," McGhee told BBC Scotland.

 

"I think we could've done better had we kept Lee Miller, but even with the ones we've had, we should've done better."

 

The Dons have not won since late January and are struggling to secure a top-six Scottish Premier League finish.

 

Former Dons striker Miller joined Middlesbrough for £500,000 in the January transfer window and Aberdeen have struggled since his departure.

 

"I'm not prepared to use what's happening in terms of future planning as an excuse for the fact we've not won for 10 games," added McGhee.

[Mentorred]

I can't wait for the clearout either, Mcghee, Leach and Meldrum.

[Madbadteacher]

The only clearout we're likely to get if fans!

[Superstar Tradesman]

He must have been promised cash to spend in the summer otherwise he's gonna look fuckin stupid not only to the fans but the players he'll be working with who he'd hinted at wanting rid of.

[LA.Don]

I feel we have totally gone down this road before.........almost every year! We cannot wait until the new signings or clearout yet we can never afford any/many decent signings and the following year we simply have a paper thin squad with youngsters, poor quality players, and we rely heavily on players like Darren Mackie and Derek Young.

 

I don't know either what McGhee is smoking or what he has been promised but to clear out and bring in a decent squad would cost up to million - say 5-10 players from free transfers to 100k, include signing bonuses and salaries, and I highly doubt we'll see anything like that kind of money. And realistically we need more than 10 players.

 

WTF...

[Ptayles]

I can't wait for the clearout either, Mcghee, Leach and Meldrum.

To be honest i would like to see Leitch and Meldrum stay

[BobbyBiscuit]

To be honest i would like to see Leitch and Meldrum stay

 

Why?

[Guest donindundonald]

"Mark McGhee is drawing up a list of 100 potential targets he believes could strengthen his Aberdeen squad"

 

Someone needs to tell him we only 11 good ones. 

 

[Mentorred]

Then he will draw up a list of 1 or 2 that we can afford