the most discussed aberdeen player in the past 10 years by dons fans

[tlg1903]

Could well be Darren Mackie

 

Was just having a look over on mad and found yet another darren mackie thread.

http://boards.footymad.net/forum.php?tno=4&fid=27&sty=2&act=1&mid=2116921448

 

as the usual debate between those loathing him and those who dont think he's amazing but recognise the shift he puts in AND he scored against dnipro dont you know were trotted out i realised there is no Aberdeen player i have talked about more than Mackie since he started playing. 

 

I dont know how i feel about this, its kinda like being amused yet abused at the same time.

 

Thoughts?

 

[manc_don]

Whilst it saddens me, I have been through the same emotions as everyone else regarding mackies form and duration at Aberdeen. Noone can doubt he's scored some important goals, just not consistently enough. Its weird to think that he's the most talked of dons player, but it just highlights how long he's been with us. Far too long!

[BobbyBiscuit]

Surely he's only the most talked about player in the last 10 years because he's been here for the last ten years? Foster is the only one really who is close to that sort of service.

 

Mackie isn't a good player but he's probably not as bad as some like to make out.  I actually feel sorry for him in a way; he deserves his testimonial because he's been here for the qualifying time.  Those who say he doesn't deserve it are way wide of the mark, and those who go over the top in their defence of him are actually doing him a disservice without meaning to.  The whole "he scored the goal in Dnipro" stuff is absolute guff... as if it's the most important goal ever scored and as if he hadn't scored it he wouldn't be entitled to his testimonial.  It's bordering on the embarrassing.

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

The goal against Dnipro was one of the most significant goals scored by anyone in fuck knows how long, doesn't mean he's a good player, that's simply a fact.

 

Mackie is completely deserving of his testimonial and whilst I do quite like him as a player his shortcomings are pretty undeniable.

 

He seems to keep getting picked by a succession of managers though so he certainly has "something" about him.

[BobbyBiscuit]

The goal against Dnipro was one of the most significant goals scored by anyone in fuck knows how long, doesn't mean he's a good player, that's simply a fact.

 

 

 

His goal against Celtic in the QF should ultimately have meant more, although it's not his fault it didn't, of course.  His goal against Dnipro was great - got into group stages etc but that's all, yes we got a nice wad out of it, the fans got some nice trips to nice places to see their favourite team, but in football terms we didn't achieve very much.  I really wish people would stop talking about it as if it's up there with John Hewitt's in 83.

[mizer]

I still like watching his goal back in 2001 where it sealed the 2-0 win against celtic when Rab Douglas gave him a sniff and he took it.

[Biggalloot]

I still prefer his goal against killie when combe threw the ball against the back of his head. Mackie is a shamefull footballer but really can we get anyone better? He is a squad player that will occassionally once in 100 games do something fucking fantastic. If that means keeping him around a wee bit longer

[rocket_scientist]

Agree with most of this. He has had a very hard time from certain morons in our support. Of course his record speaks for itself and his shortcomings are obvious but if every Don over the last decade had put in the same effort that he did, we wouldn't be in this mess.

 

The most embarrassed I've ever been as an Aberdeen fan was March/April 2008 when he was subbed off v. Motherwell and many in the RDS started booing him.

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

His goal against Celtic in the QF should ultimately have meant more, although it's not his fault it didn't, of course.  His goal against Dnipro was great - got into group stages etc but that's all, yes we got a nice wad out of it, the fans got some nice trips to nice places to see their favourite team, but in football terms we didn't achieve very much.  I really wish people would stop talking about it as if it's up there with John Hewitt's in 83.

 

 

Not sure that's actually happened BB.

 

Nice how getting to the group stages and getting a nice wad and getting some nice trips gets a "that's all". I think that's quite a fucking lot. Hopefully I am not making any kind of comparisons or parallels with major trophy wins though.

 

Had Mackies goal against the Tims been in a final I would probably have agreed with you BB. But it wasn't.

[BobbyBiscuit]

 

Not sure that's actually happened BB.

 

Nice how getting to the group stages and getting a nice wad and getting some nice trips gets a "that's all". I think that's quite a fucking lot. Hopefully I am not making any kind of comparisons or parallels with major trophy wins though.

 

Had Mackies goal against the Tims been in a final I would probably have agreed with you BB. But it wasn't.

 

The way some folk go on about it you'd think we'd won another European trophy with it.  Sounding like Dundee United fans... 

 

I also said in "football terms" we didn't achieve anything, we got no silverware out of it and only won one game - albeit that was all it took to get through the group and that was the aim yada yada...  but the team was allowed to break up instead of investment at a moment of strength/good feeling about the club.

 

I also said his goal in the QF "should ultimately have meant more", not that it did in reality.

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

There was an opportunity very much missed and a solid team seemed, to me at least, to be allowed to break up. There may well have been little that could have been done realistically to keep a lot of them but you just always have that impression AFC are not particularly hard to negotiate with.

 

Milne was full of bullshit in the wake of that wee glint of "success". Successive seasons saw managers have to contend with losing their best players and not even getting the departing players wages to replace them, until it has reached the point where no-one would really worry about any member of the squad leaving anymore.

[caledonia]

Sad that in ten years all people can say is remember that Dnipro goal and maybe two or three others.

Over that time (10 years+) we should be picking from hundreds of goals

And the very fact there is debate and no other club has came in for him says it all.

 

And the "he always gives 100% effort" brigade annoy me also because anyone could give 100% at their job but it does not mean they are good enough.

 

Not saying he does not deserve his testimonial for the amount of time spent at the club but at the same time think he should have been let go a while back.

[TENEMENTFUNSTER]

You'll be right then. What the fuck was I thinking?

[Kowalski]

As BB said, the only reason he's the most talked about player over the last 10 years is because he's the only player that's been here for the last 10 years.

 

For what it's worth I think he should have moved on a couple of years ago, but successive managers keep picking him - apart from Pele.

 

I kinda get the feeling that peoples attitudes to him have mellowed over the years, that may be because they realise we're stuck with him.

 

Never the best player we've seen in a Dons shirt but he does give his all.

He certainly deserves his testimonial.

[KGB]

You'll be right then. What the fuck was I thinking?

 

[caledonia]

You'll be right then. What the fuck was I thinking?

 

Thanks it takes a big man to admit he is wrong.

Although you should be used to it by now.

[tom_widdows]

Thanks it takes a big man to admit he is wrong.

Although you should be used to it by now.

 

[Harcus]

Pretty sure Dundee United put a bid in for him? Can't remember who rejected. Inverness also had him on loan, and I think were interested in taking him permanently?

[Stewart]

Pretty sure Dundee United put a bid in for him? Can't remember who rejected. Inverness also had him on loan, and I think were interested in taking him permanently?

 

Think we offered him to Utd in exchange for Lee Miller but Mackie turned it down.

 

*EDIT*

 

Found this:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aberdeen/5295368.stm

[mizer]

Pretty sure Dundee United put a bid in for him? Can't remember who rejected. Inverness also had him on loan, and I think were interested in taking him permanently?

[/quote

 

Correct, and as Stewart says he turned them down.

 

 

[Madbadteacher]

TBH we've had worse (a lot worse) in the 40 years+ I've been a Don.

 

Willie Falconer?

Walker McCall?

I'm sure their are others that spent many years in red and, err, wernae really that good. Mackie deserves his testimonial, and not just because he "hung aout long enough". I think a lot of people miss the runs he makes off the ball and the number of times he's in good positions waiting for a ball that never comes because the midfield etc. can't get the ball to him. Granted he's no Rooney/Berbatov/Messi in terms of being a lethal finisher, but I'd wager, with more accurate servive, we could probably have seen him score at least another 30 goals or so in his time here.

 

I hope he has a great night.

[tlg1903]

Some quite interesting responses to this, the point i was trying to make (not very well i might add) was that surely i could have found better things to do with my time over the past ten years than discuss the merits of Darren Mackie.  Note to any teenagers, doing something like this for ten years is how you make a significant start on wasting your life

[BobbyBiscuit]

TBH we've had worse (a lot worse) in the 40 years+ I've been a Don.

 

Willie Falconer?

Walker McCall?

I'm sure their are others that spent many years in red and, err, wernae really that good. Mackie deserves his testimonial, and not just because he "hung aout long enough". I think a lot of people miss the runs he makes off the ball and the number of times he's in good positions waiting for a ball that never comes because the midfield etc. can't get the ball to him. Granted he's no Rooney/Berbatov/Messi in terms of being a lethal finisher, but I'd wager, with more accurate servive, we could probably have seen him score at least another 30 goals or so in his time here.

 

I hope he has a great night.

 

I saw Willie Falconer the other day actually... he was looking far healthier than he ever did as a player with us.  I remember being at Brockville in about 87 when he scored a goal by falling over, landing on the ball, rolling over and as he got up to see what was happening the ball went in the net...

 

Your points about Mackie are pretty much fair enough. There is something about him, he's just not a "great" player.  I always thought Mackie was superb in the air for his height but he seems to have lost that in recent years.  His header against Nistru Otaci was absolutely brilliant but he's just never really improved as a player over the years which I think is the big thing and the big worry for me.  He should have improved as a player, he hasn't.  The crapness of the club's set up in that time is to blame for that I'd say.

[kelt]

Terrible, terrible, terrible footballer.

 

The argument that he 'scores some important goals' is weak, given he's been at the club for a decade.  You would expect ANYONE in a forward position for ten years to score some important goals... in fact a better striker would have score a larger number of important goals.

 

So another way of looking at it is that Mackie, over a decade, hasn't scored nearly enough important goals.  In fact, he hasn't scored nearly enough goals. 

 

What's he averaging out at, something like 6.5 goals a season?

 

That he has played his entire career in the top flight of Scottish football is a sad indictment of Scottish football, but in particular of where Aberdeen has been as a club for far too long.

 

 

[BobbyBiscuit]

this is also very true.