Worst ever Dons squad

[topcorner]

Pretty sure it was 3-2 and on a Wednesday.

 

Aye it was.

 

I was at uni at the time and had one hoor of a hangover the next day.

[Jute]

All the journeymen listed on the Fit Like thread got me thinking of all the pish players that have played for us over the years. So I started looking back at some old squads.

 

How the fuck did Calderwood get this heap of shit to finish 4th in the league in 04/05!?? Only 4 of these guys I'd have anywhere near our squad now.

 

No. Position Player

1 England GK David Preece

2 Scotland DF Phil McGuire

3 Scotland DF Kevin McNaughton

4 Scotland DF Russell Anderson (Captain)

5 Scotland DF Zander Diamond

6 Scotland MF Scott Severin

7 England MF Markus Paatelainen

7 Scotland MF Steve Tosh

8 Finland MF Markus Heikkinen

9 England FW Steven Craig

10 Scotland MF Derek Adams

11 Scotland MF Chris Clark

14 Scotland FW Darren Mackie

15 Scotland DF Michael Hart

16 Scotland MF Scott Morrison

17 Iceland FW Thorarinn Kristjansson

18 Scotland DF Scott Muirhead

19 Scotland FW John Stewart

20 Scotland GK Ryan Esson

21 Scotland DF Richard Foster

22 Scotland MF Jamie Winter

23 England FW Noel Whelan

24 Argentina FW Fernando Pasquinelli

25 Republic of Ireland MF Gary Dempsey

27 Republic of Ireland DF Richie Byrne

28 Finland FW Mikko Paatelainen

29 Czech Republic FW Lubomir Blaha

50 Serbia and Montenegro GK Saša Ili?

 

Must be the worst squad we ever had??

 

Reading that squad has reminded me why I never went to the football sober in those days.

[Madbadteacher]

TBF Richie Byrne mistook himself for a footballer

[Tyrant]

Aye you're absolutely right there! ...2-0 us, then Celtic came back into it and then we got the last minute winner. I briefly remember listening to it on the radio. If my ever dwindling memory serves me right, i think he had another 2 goals against Celtic in an end of a season affair.. though again i could be wrong. Something sticks in my mind that Celtic had the league wrapped up, they were singing ' you are only here for the party' at Pittodrie and we came back from two gaols down and got the draw... of course i could be mixing some memories up there again

 

We were 2-0 up on that night, aye. Celtic scored just before half time and then equalised just after. Then Budgie popped up with the only highlight of his career for the winner. Later on (can't remember when exactly) we were 2-0 up early on down there again but Celtic came back again and I believe Craig Bellamy scored a peach of a volley to make it 3-2.

[thestooge]

 

 

Calderwood, in my opinion, didn't get another full time gig for two reasons. the first is that he needs cash, won't use the youth system so will always go to the transfer market first and for the last few years clubs in Scotland just haven't had the cash. 

 

Agree with you on your second point, JC was unquestionably a gobshite with an inflated opinion of his own work.  He's not alone in that though.

 

I disagree with the comment above though.  These two elements, money and youth, are always brought up around JC.  I dinna think they are fair.

 

First, on money, JC had both OF spending considerably more than us.  He also had Hearts spending more than us.  Hibs and United maybe didn't quite have the same operational budget as us, but it was tighter than it is now.  Despite a much tighter financial climate, JC maintained our league position and we finished above those sides closest to us financially regularly.  We're now in a position where we're comfortably outspending the remainder of the league outwith Celtic so, despite being perfectly happy with McInnes, I think it's also important to remember that his resources should make finishing 2nd almost an expectation.

 

On youth, when JC came in, we also overhauled an under performing youth set up.  It wasn't JC's fault that there wasn't a huge amount of talent coming through.  It's not like he was overlooking good players who have gone on to better things.  We only really started to see the fruits of our improved youth network after he left.  We're also now in a position where folks are starting to talk about youth talent being stifled but again that comes down to the quality in the starting 11.  By the time JC had brought in the likes of Smith, Nicholson, Severin and Miller, there was less opportunity for youngsters, who argably weren't up to scratch anyway, to break through.

[BigAl]

Did we pay any money for any of them?

 

How could I possibly have forgotten that we paid £50k for Richie Byrne 

[BobbyBiscuit]

Agree with you on your second point, JC was unquestionably a gobshite with an inflated opinion of his own work.  He's not alone in that though.

 

I disagree with the comment above though.  These two elements, money and youth, are always brought up around JC.  I dinna think they are fair.

 

 

It's not just about his time at Aberdeen though. Wasn't there a stat that up until his last season at Pittodrie he hadn't given any youth team player their debut in Scotland, including his time at DAFC.

 

The money thing also isn't just about Aberdeen but also the assurances he asked for at Kilmarnock - so by his own admission, he needs cash to spend.  If that's his style of management, that's fine - but in Scotland you're not going to get a job these days if that's a pre-requisite.

[Tubilay]

Agree with you on your second point, JC was unquestionably a gobshite with an inflated opinion of his own work.  He's not alone in that though.

 

I disagree with the comment above though.  These two elements, money and youth, are always brought up around JC.  I dinna think they are fair.

 

First, on money, JC had both OF spending considerably more than us.  He also had Hearts spending more than us.  Hibs and United maybe didn't quite have the same operational budget as us, but it was tighter than it is now.  Despite a much tighter financial climate, JC maintained our league position and we finished above those sides closest to us financially regularly.  We're now in a position where we're comfortably outspending the remainder of the league outwith Celtic so, despite being perfectly happy with McInnes, I think it's also important to remember that his resources should make finishing 2nd almost an expectation.

 

On youth, when JC came in, we also overhauled an under performing youth set up.  It wasn't JC's fault that there wasn't a huge amount of talent coming through.  It's not like he was overlooking good players who have gone on to better things.  We only really started to see the fruits of our improved youth network after he left.  We're also now in a position where folks are starting to talk about youth talent being stifled but again that comes down to the quality in the starting 11.  By the time JC had brought in the likes of Smith, Nicholson, Severin and Miller, there was less opportunity for youngsters, who argably weren't up to scratch anyway, to break through.

 

I think the criticism around the youth is largely unjustified. When Calderwood came in, it wasn't like we were producing great kids, or that we've subsequently seen these youngsters go elsewhere and prove him wrong. He was brought in to change things around quickly, and the kids weren't up to scratch. Regardless of whether it's true that he never gave a youngster a debut, I'd say the faith he had in the likes of Maguire, Aluko and (a good 20-year-old) Diamond suggests it's nothing to do with suspicions around playing younger players.

 

Rightly or wrongly, one of the reasons for Calderwood's continued lack of employment is that he's got a reputation for spending money, and for making fairly big demands of the board. That's not necessarily at Aberdeen, but it's certainly the case at both Kilmarnock and Ross County, who managed to do alright. For the most part, his cash signings at Aberdeen were pivotal. Nicholson, Lovell, even Mulgrew were good moves, but his subsequent reputation is of someone who needed money to succeed. Rightly or wrongly. In the years of cost-cutting in the division, it's easy to see why that reputation counts against him.

[Tyrant]

JC Calderwood was one that I was initially a fan of. I wasn't a JIGer by any means but I certainly wasn't a JMGer. When it was announced that he was leaving I was surprised but nae unhappy about it. The man had his flaws in abundance, no doubt, but he also steered us clear of our seemingly annual relegation scrap for the 4 years or so that he was with us.

 

What really turned me off to JC was the whole Ryan O'Leary revelation. For me it shone a spotlight on what many had already suspected of JC. That he was a complete fucking buffoon. I'm glad we got shot of him when we did and it doesn't surprise me at all to see that he's struggling for work in management.