Aberdeen finish a terrible season on a high.

This has been one of the worst season for a long time, but Aberdeen ended the season on a high with a 3-1 win over Hibs in Edinburgh.

I kind of had a feeling that we might win this game, We seem to be Hibs bogey team this season having now beaten them 3 times out of 4.

Aberdeen's player of the season Chris Bebo Maguire scored a 2 minute double in the second half to secure the points after Big Josh magennis had equalized .

Although it was a nice way to end the season it only papers over the cracks, but every Aberdeen fan knows the major task Craig and Archie have ahead of them in the summer.
A number of players will be moving on and we need to replace them with players who are better if we want to move forward.

If Maguire stays and continues to grow as a player then he can form a lethal partnership with Scott Vernon. If Bebo goes then we have to find a player who can score goals and also feed vernon.
No disrespect to the guy but I don't think Darren Mackie is that player. He gives his all and is a good back up to have but I don't think he should be one of our main strikers.

Big Josh is also a good back up to have and if he continues to improve maybe in a year or 2 he can be the main man.
Micheal Paton is one player who has just not improved over the last few years and I would shed no tears if he was to move on.

Aluko will be missed with his speed on the wing, on his day he can be a great player but other days he can be frustrating, reminds me of Eion Jess in some ways.

We will find out in the coming weeks and months who is staying, who is going and who is coming in. Should be an interesting break.

Now lets enjoy the summer, no break from football for me, still got Columbus Crew playing in the MLS and the USA playing in the Gold Cup.

Stand Free

Where will a victory come from?

Today's game against St Mirren was a chance for Aberdeen to say sorry to the fans that did turn up  for the terrible season and thanks for sticking by us.

Instead we got another inept performance, I hardly remember hearing the St Mirren goalkeeper mentioned, to be fair Jamie Langfield was not really put under any pressure, but St Mirren took one more chance than we did and are now guaranteed SPL football next season.

I am just happy that we did have that purple patch when Craig Brown and Archie Knox came to Pittodrie as those point picked up then saved us from relegation.

With one more game to play, against Hibs this Saturday, who would bet against St Mirren leapfrogging us and leaving us 2nd bottom when the season is complete.
I really cannot see where a win is going to come from.

So what now? We have a few players out of contract, so there may be some changes over the summer , but will the players who come in be any better than those departing.

What will the management team be thinking? Will next season be their last when their contracts run out or will they stay to see  the job complete.
If they are going to retire are the board actively looking for Suitable replacements or are they going to wait until 2 weeks before the start of the 2012/2013 season.

These questions will all be answered in the next twelve months.

As for us fans the majority will return to spend their hard earned money following the Dons or in my case another years Subscription to Red TV, but some I fear will find other more entertaining ways to spend their Saturdays.

Stand Free

Is it over yet?

This week the news has been filled with stories about the shooting and killing of Osama Bin Laden, I think a more subtable punishment would have been to capture him alive and make him sit and watch DVDs of every Aberdeen game this season.

2010/2011 has just been torture for us long suffering Dons fans and it got no better this afternoon.
I have been lucky that due to work commitments and being away for the day last Saturday, I have not heard much of the last couple of games, hence why no blog for a few weeks.
But today I was not so lucky.

The team seemed to be on their summer vacations already, lack of effort and commitment to the cause was evident. St Johnstone were far from being great but they could easily have won by more  than two goals .

It is a worry, these last couple of home games might just be the deciding factor for some whether they return to Pittodrie next season or not, Craig Brown has a massive job on his hands rebuilding this summer.

The one highlight of today's game was the return of Fraser Fyvie who has missed most of the season through injury, He came on as a second half sub and although he really did nothing of note, just getting a game in the first team will boost his confidence and in the long run his fitness.

So this time next week it will be over and we can relax for the summer.

Stand Free

Tempers Boyle over as Dons are Well done.

It is good to be back after a two week break since Aberdeen's last game.
Since I last blogged shot Shy Scotland were defeated 2-0 by Brazil in London, the USA had a credible 1-1 draw with Argentina only to then lose to Paraguay and Columbus Crew finally scored a goal from open play and won their first game of the new MLS season.
But back to the Aberdeen game

This game was a must win if we were to have any realistic chance of getting into the top 6 this season.
We started really badly and I don't think Randolph had a save to make in the first half, in fact they could have had Rudolph in goals and we  would  not have scored in the first half.

We seemed to step it up a bit in the second half but the finishing was poor.
We scored near the end to set up a nervy finish for Motherwell but in truth it would not have been deserved had we taken something from the game.

The biggest talking point was the bust up between Motherwell Chairman John Boyle and Aberdeen Manager Craig Brown in the tunnel after the full time whistle.
As the two went to shake hands Boyle said something to Brown and Brown chased after him.
After the Old Firm game where McCoist and Lennon went at it, I would have hoped Brown would have shown more sense, but sometimes in the heat of the moment we all do things we should not.

Anyway back to the game itself, I was disappointed with the performance by Aberdeen and really fear for the game against Celtic at Hampden in a couple of weeks, If they play like that it could be another Long trip home  for the Dons fans.
We need to start winning the midfield battles and getting the ball to our strikers, no service means no goals.
The defensive mistakes need to stop, we had a run of clean sheets and now it is as if the defence has forgotten the basics once again.

We now face a tough trip to Saint Mirren in midweek, a venue we were luck to escape with a draw on our previous visit. Lets hope we can get back to winning ways and build up some confidence so we can end a very poor season on a high.


Stand Free

Aberdeen Stop Hearts

I said in my previous blog that I would be happy with a draw from today's game with Hearts, but after the game I think we had enough chances to win the game and the Hearts Keeper kept them in it.

People who don't follow the game never get it when I say you can get a good nil nil draw, but this was one of those games. It was far from a bore and Aberdeen were constantly looking dangerous and even though we were never really in any danger Hearts did get a break away now and again and look dangerous.

I felt a bit sorry for Young who has played well in recent weeks and was dropped to the bench for Hartley to come back into the starting line up.

I was pleased with Andrew Considine who came in to replace the injured Zander Diamond, in my opinion Zander has been a liability this season and may struggle to get back in the team if the defence keep performing like they did today. I know going by reading what people are saying on Donstalk that I am not alone in thinking it would not hurt Aberdeen if Zander was to move on at the end of the season.

The point puts us level on points with Dundee United and Saint Johnstone, Dundee United who as I write this are down 1-0 to Hamilton and Saint Johnstone who play Rangers on Sunday and have a very slim chance of coming away from Ibrox with anything.
We play both teams over the next 9 days.

So apart from the Celtic game which a win would have been a bonus the only real blip in February was the defeat to Motherwell. If we had won that game Craig Brown might have been up there as a contender for Manager of the month.
Oh how times have changed from the dark days of 2010.


Stand Free

Maguire makes Hamilton pay the Penalty

After a five star performance on Saturday against Kilmarnock, I thought today's game would be a hard battle.
Hamilton are scraping for points and I knew they would try to do anything in their power not to lose the game.

Chris Maguire calmly stepped up and took the penalty that turned out to be the only goal of the game.

After the way the team played on Saturday I was glad to see Paul Hartley did not walk straight back into the starting line up. The players that played on Saturday earned their start for tonight's game.

It was a nervous game at times and it sounded like Jamie Langfield once again made a few good saves to keep us in the lead.
The last five minutes Hamilton were really putting on the pressure but out defence stood strong and took the three points.

With fifteen points between us and bottom place Hamilton I think we can safely look up towards the teams we are chasing and not down at the relegation dog fight.

Craig brown has made us tough to beat and I look forward to Saturday's game against Hearts.
Hearts are going well at the moment and are running away with third place, it is going to be a tough game and I would be lying if I said I would not be happy to take a point from this game.


Stand Free

Aberdeen's Fantastic Five Killie off Kilmarnock.

This was always a potential banana skin of a game, Kilmarnock are a tough side to break down. Aberdeen have not really been playing well in recent weeks.

Scottie Vernon and Birthday Boy Sone Aluko had given us a nice cushion with only 25 minutes gone.
Rob Milsom looks like a great signing. I think we missed him on Tuesday night more than we have missed Paul Hartley when he was out suspended, we certainly never missed him today.

Was nice to see Big Josh Magennis getting his first SPL goal of the season. He certainly has the potential to be a big player for the Dons.
Chris Maguire and Rory McArdle also got on the Score sheet. McArdle has scored a few goals this season.

We were never really troubled by Kille and Jamie Langfield had very few saves to make.

This was a big win for us, a defeat today would make the top six almost impossible. What was more pleasing is this is not a team who are struggling down the bottom, Killie have done well and currently sit fourth in the SPL.

I said in the last blog that Craig Brown had to get the players playing like they were when he first arrived, and he did just that. 5-0 is our biggest win of the season and the whole team played well.

Aberdeen need to carry on the good work on Tuesday night when they play bottom of the table Hamilton.
This will be another tough game with Hamilton hoping to pull us back into the relegation dog fight.
I cannot see a massive crowd coming out for the game, especially if the weather conditions don't improve over the next few days, but hopefully we can play well despite the lack of atmosphere.

Stand Free

The Honeymoon is Over as Dons are Well Done

Once again Aberdeen failed to win in front of their home fans, as they were defeated 2-1 by Motherwell.

These are the games we need to be winning if we are going to be getting into the top 6 this season.

It all started well with a cracking goal by comeback kid Sone Aluko after three minutes. Motherwell then got the equalizer from Francis Jeffers. Things got worse for Aberdeen when Paul Hartley was stupidly sent off.

I though the Motherwell player Lasley should also have been shown a red card, with is assault on Hartley,
He jumped into Paul and caught him with an elbow, how Stuart McCall could say it was not even a foul is a joke, of course McCall played along side Mark Elbow's Hateley so is used to seeing this type of thuggery on the field.

Motherwell were the better team but seem to have that nasty streak, even if Lasley was not sent off there were numerous others who could have been, the ref really lost the plot.

But for Aberdeen we need to get back on track starting with 3 points against Killie on Saturday, failing to do so could see us dragged back into the relegation battle.
Aberdeen have in reality been poor for the last month, they did not play well against Dunfermline or ICT even though they won and even against Celtic in the 2nd and 3rd games looked poor at times.

Craig Brown must now try and get the confidence back and get us back to playing like we were when he first arrived. So Craig the Honeymoon is over, get your finger out and get the team playing the way we all know they can.


Stand Free

Fail Fail the Dons are here

Ever look forward to something all week and then it comes and you are left disappointed?
If you are a Dons fan then the answer is probably yes.

After the good showing at Parkhead last week, I had been looking forward to today's game. I really thought if we continued from where we left off last weekend we could give this a real good go.
Today is my birthday and the one gift I wanted was the Dons to win a place in the cup final.

Neil Lennon had done his homework, he knew we would start nervous and had obviously seen the errors made against Inverness in midweek, errors you get away with against the lesser teams but not against Celtic or Rangers.

Celtic came right at us, at this point my computer decided to restart itself after doing an update and by the time I got back online we were 2-0 down.
The final straw was the 3rd goal and I left the room shaved and went outside to snow blow the driveway.
I have not stopped watching or listening to a Dons game for a long time but could not bare this, not on my birthday.

When I returned from the welcome break outside in below freezing temperatures it was 4-0 and the halftime break was almost done.

I braved the second half and saw Scott Vernon's consolation goal, which did not even lift my spirits. The damage was done and there was no way back.
We seemed to play better in the second half but I think that was more down to Celtic taking their foot off the gas rather than Aberdeen's performance.

I felt gutted at the end, not because we lost but because of the way we lost.
I really feel for the near 14,000 fans who made the trip to the national stadium.
And to have lost so early, we did not really get a chance to enjoy the occasion, the game was dead before most fans had even settled into their seats.

I think Craig Brown made a mistake with the starting formation, and I think from what I have seen from Craig he will be the first to admit that, but he was also let down by his players.

All we can do is get back on the horse and start again, and hope that the team can take something from their next game against ......Celtic, hang on didn't we just play them like twice???
Some times the fixture list is so cruel.


Stand Free

Inverness Ry-Jacked

Aberdeen headed to Inverness hoping to build on a good second half performance at Celtic Park.
The cause was helped when Grant Munro was red carded after only 18 minutes for an off the ball incident involving Chris Maguire, the Inverness man appeared to hit Maguire with an elbow or fist.

Aberdeen were then in control and it was only a matter of time before they took the lead. Eventually the goal came just minutes before half time, Ryan Jack hit a stunner from 20 yards, it was Jacks first goal for the Dons first team, I said said a couple of games ago Jack gets better and better each game and that it was only a matter of time before one of his long range shots flew into the net.

Aberdeen killed the game off just after the break when Nick Blackman also got his first Aberdeen goal.

I thought Blackman was disappointing against Celtic at the weekend but Craig Brown admitted fault when he said Nick was not really fit and should not have played.

This was a massive win for us keeping the confidence up after the weekend.
Now we can go to Hampden on Saturday with no fear.
If we play at our best than just maybe we will be heading to Hampden again in March for the Cup Final.

Stand Free

Vernon is Double Trouble for St Mirren

It seems so long ago that Aberdeen were sitting top of the SPL after the first two game of the season.
Since that first game against Hamilton till his last game in charge against Kilmarnock, Mark Mchgee only managed to get ten league points on the board.
With wins against Hibs, Hamilton and now St Mirren, and also the New Years Day draw against Dundee United, Craig Brown has now equaled that tally. That in itself is a remarkable turn around.

To be fair we have not played any of the top teams yet, we have beaten the teams who were on or around the same points as we were, these are the teams we have to beat, the upcoming three games in ten days  against Celtic will show us how far we have come.

We may not win any of the games against Celtic, but improved performances and a more respectable result will show us where we stand.

Some of the games have not been pretty in fact they have been scrappy, but in our situation fancy football does not always win games, fighting for every ball and scraping wins is what is needed. Craig Brown, as many said when he first arrived, has made us hard to beat.

There seems to be a buzz around Pittodrie again, Scott Vernon is scoring for fun, Chris Maguire is enjoying his football again and the players seem to be creating a bond amongst themselves, from helping each other out when under pressure to celebrating goals as a team, in one game recently Jamie Langfield ran the entire length of the pitch to join in with the after goal celebrations.

Ryan Jack played well again today and was unlucky not to get on the score sheet, he seems to get better with every game he plays, although he did not score today Chris Maguire played a fantastic game setting up both Scott Vernons goals.

Robert Milsom made his Debut today and looked solid, he seems to like taking shots from long range and it is only a matter of time before they start flying in.

I also look forward to seeing Blackman our other new signing this week, the paperwork is all done but he has been ill and has not joined up with his new team mates yet.

St Mirren had a few chances but did not take them and Aberdeen got a deserved three points.
Aberdeen were missing Sone Aluko and Captain Paul Hartley today, which is always a worry when these players are missing, but the rest of the team did well in their absence today.

Ten Points and still unbeaten in 2011, if someone had told me that would be our situation in Mid January a couple of months ago I would have been calling the funny farm to book a room for them.


Stand Free

Aberdeen hit East Fife for Six

I had to cringe today when I saw a quote from Craig Brown saying Aberdeen would not lose to a lower league team in the cup while he was manager.
Not that I don't have faith in Craig Brown but we have heard this so often in the past and then we get beat.

Normally this type of game is the type of game that  Aberdeen struggle in and sneak a 1-0 win and have the fans biting their nails for 90 minutes.

Brown stuck to his word and  we came out fighting for every ball. All credit to East Fife they battled also and had a few chances. But a Chris Maguire first half hat-trick with Scott Vernon also getting in on the action,  killed the game off before half time.
East Fife still tried to play football after the break when many teams would have had eleven  men on the goal line.

I was very pleased to see Bebo (Maguire) getting a had trick. He is showing the form we have seen from him while playing for the Scottish u21 team.
Just goes to show what happens when you have a manager that knows what he is doing running the show.

Aberdeen did not look troubled, any chances East Fife created was dealt with by Jamie Langfield and the Aberdeen defence.

I know that it is only East Fife who play in the 2ND Division but this was more about building on the confidence that we have been slowly getting back in recent weeks.
Vernon and Maguire especially will be biting at the bit for the next game so they can add to the goal tallies for the season.

Special Mention for Ryan Jack also who as Red TV said on another day would have won the MOTM
but that accolade went to Chris Maguire for his three goals.
Scott Vernon also had a good shift and was close to getting a hat-trick for himself but just could not find that 3rd goal.

I was also delighted for Josh Magennis who scored his first competitive goal for the club with the last kick of the ball. Josh has done well in recent weeks and could have had a few but for lack of confidence. Hopefully this will boost that confidence and he will become a regular on the score sheet.

Roll on Tuesday when we find out who we will face in the next round of the Cup.

I would also like to congratulate our Aberdeenshire Neighbours Peterhead for getting a great result away from home against SPL side St Mirren with a 0-0 draw to take the tie to a replay.

Stand Free

Good Riddance 2010 welcome 2011

In 2010 Aberdeen played 48 Competitive games in the league and cup. Out of those 48 they won 15.
2 of those victories came over the festive period, the only question I have to ask is why did it take the Aberdeen board so long to make a change.
January started so well, we beat Dundee United 1-0 beat hearts in the league and Scottish cup scoring five goals in the process and the defeated Kilmarnock by a single goal.
We hit a little rock on mid January when we lost to St Mirren but then on the 30th there was a disaster.
Motherwell came to town and put 3 past us, ironically managed by our current boss, Craig Brown that started the rot.

Knocked out of the Scottish cup by Raith Rovers in February the only high would be a dramatic 4-4 draw with Celtic at Pittodrie.

We would not win a game until March 23rd. By this time I had lost complete faith in Mchgee and had decided it was time for a change, a change that would not come for another 9 long months.

We only won 2 more games and managed to avoid relegation by the skin of our teeth.

The rumours were starting about rifts in the pittodrie camp and major changes in the summer.
But come June and the start of pre season training the management team remained the same.
Pre season did not go well but mostly pre season is about fitness and trying out new things.
So I put on my supportive hat and decided to put my faith in Mcghee and his new players. As he had said the previous year, don't judge me now, judge me when I get my own team in.

This season started with a bang, a fantastic display against Hamilton with a Paul Hartley (who had really lifted my spirits and giving me a glimmer of hope that Mcghee new what he was doing) hat trick.
This was followed by a tough game against Saint Johnstone away from home which we battled and won late on. We got a good result in the cup. This was Mcghee's Aberdeen and despite a defeat by Killie we were flying. I was wrong about wanting change, the board had made the right decision standing by their man, or had they?

Then things turned sour and looked very much like the previous season, We could not find a win from anywhere, we even through away a 2-0 half time lead at home to Rangers and lost 3-2.
Our only win in September was a revenge win against Raith Rovers in the League cup.

October did not go much better with wins against Falkirk in the League cup, setting up a semi final game against Celtic in January and a 4-2 win against Hibernian which would turn out to be our last victory under Mcghee.

Mcghee still had the backing of the board at this point but when Celtic completely ripped us apart 9-0 at the beginning of November there was an emergency board meeting and internet forums were buzzing with rumours.
Shockingly the board came out and support Mcghee saying they still had faith in him. Some members of the media were only a win against Inverness Caley would save his job but after yet another defeat at home he was still in charge.

No points were picked up in November and after a 2-0 defeat away to Killie, which has been a grave yard for many Aberdeen Managers career at Pittordrie the board finally made the decision I had been calling for 9 months earlier.

We were due to play Celtic again but hours after the game was cancelled due to bad weather the announcement came.
The board said they would take there time. Many names were mentioned, including Billy Stark who the media seemed sure was going to get the job.

Finally the board announced they had approached Craig Brown but he has politely said no, he wanted to continue to build on what he had started at Motherwell, but then the thought of a real challenge started to get him excited and when Aberdeen called back he changed his mind.

Brown and Knox sat in the stand for the 1st game after there appointment and let Neil Cooper and Neil Simpson take the team.
It was a real eye opener for them as Aberdeen we humbled 5-0 by Hearts.

So far as we come to the end of December Brown and Knox have led Aberdeen to 2 consecutive away wins in Edinburgh against Hibs and then this weeks victory at Hamilton.
The Wikipedia page looks good, 100% wins.

So lets hope that 2011 will be a lot better than 2010 was, starting with 3 points against Dundee United in Craig Browns Pittodrie debut.

Stand Free and Happy New year.

The late show with Scott Vernon

Wins are like buses, you wait ages for one and then  2 come along at once.
It was great to see Aberdeen battle till the very end against Hamilton and grab the 3 points in stoppage time.

I knew it would be a scrappy game, Hamilton would have been happy to hold out for a point. It was clear that both teams were having confidence issues.
There was some poor defending and some poor finishing from both teams.

Craig brown has done for Aberdeen what I said he would when he was appointed, He has made us tough to beat.
It may not be pretty but it is getting points on the board, which at this moment in time is the most important thing.

After our 2 recent wins against fellow struggling teams we face a real test on New Years day when Dundee United are our first foots at Pittodrie.
I think in our current position I would settle for a point against them but Brown and Knox have 2 wins out of 2 against them this season with Motherwell so lets hope they can keep the run going.

Stand Free

Can we play you every week?

Until today Aberdeen had not won a game since the 23rd of October, ironically that victory was also against Hibs.
I said it back then and I will say it again now, Hibs are also a team short of confidence so I am not getting over excited about the victory.
Even after our losing streak Hibs were only 5 points ahead of us going into the game.

Yes it was a relief and a welcome 3 points. But we must go out and battle the same way against the other teams, especially those around us.
Once I see us picking up results against those teams I will start to have more confidence in the players.

I can already see the difference Craig Brown is making, when was the last time we saw Aberdeen spot a weakness in the opponent and change tactics to exploit it.
Brown noticed that the Hibs defence were pretty light weight and brought on Josh Magennis  for Sone Aluko to provide some extra muscle.
Some poor finishing and lack of confidence caused Magennis to miss a couple of sitters but we saw what the lad is capable of.

We are off the bottom of the table at last. Although it was only really 1 game with the games being cancelled recently it has been a couple of weeks. Hopefully we will not be back there again.
A victory against Hamilton on Wednesday will hopefully see us open up a big enough gap between us and them.

All I wanted from Santa was 3 points today and Santa delivered.
Maybe my other wish will now be granted, with league reconstruction maybe it can be set up so we can play Hibs every week, then we will be challenging for the league title every season.

Stand Free and Merry Christmas

The Third coming of Jim Leighton

Jim Leighton rejoined Aberdeen for the third time in is career. Having had two spells at the club as a player and then joining the coaching staff after retiring Jim was shockingly sacked by Mark Mcghee not long after Mcghee joined the club. Mcghee wanted to bring in his own man Colin Meldrum.
I don't think it was any coincidence that Jamie Langfield made a few errors in the first couple of games after Leighton left.
Langfield has not really been the same under Meldrum but hopefully he will get back to his best now Jim is back.
I am delighted to see Jim Leighton back, he is a first class goalkeeper a great coach.
Jim himself must be delighted to be back, I remember hearing an interview with him on BBC Radio Scotland  not long after he left Pittodrie and he sounded gutted.
It is no surprise that Brown had brought him back as he was Leighton's Manager at international level and Archie Knox also worked with Jim at both Aberdeen and Manchester United.
Welcome back Jim.


Stand Free

The only way is up

I predicted before the game that we would lose to Hearts today, But I was not expecting a result like this.
Tynecastle is always a tough place to go and it takes a huge performance to take the points. But 5-0 is totally unacceptable.

I had hoped that the pending arrival of Craig Brown and Archie Knox would have given the Dons players a confidence boost, and it looked like it had as Aberdeen came out fighting ans seemed to be all over Hearts for the first five minutes.
But Hearts went up the park and scored with their first attack, There was some debate that the ball did not cross the line but the commentators on Red TV said that it could have been a penalty before the goal was given.
Hearts were really going at our weakness of having no full backs and the 2nd goal like the first came after they run at Ifil. The game was dead by the 10th minute and Brown and Knox must have been sitting in the stand thinking What have we done.

David and Steven from Red TV were arguing with each other at one point David saying the Dons had "No Bloody Confidence" and Steven arguing that it was not confidence it was that the players were "Just not trying, How hard is it to make a tackle to try and  stop Hearts scoring".

Craig Brown's list of Players just not good enough will be getting longer and longer and I can only say roll on January and the opening of the transfer window.
I can see some players being moved on if people will take them and hopefully a few free transfers or loan players coming in to see us through the second half of the season.

The result today means we are now bottom of the SPL with Hamilton not even kicking a ball.
As Red TV said the only way is up.

Aberdeen are a mess and the fans need to have patience with Brown and Knox and not expect dramatic results right away. But hopefully these embarrassing scores will end now and we can scrape a few wins to take us out of the relegation zone.

Good Luck Craig Brown and Archie Knox, you are going to need it.


Stand Free

Paw Broon and Oor Wullie join forces.

So Aberdeen look to have ended the search for Mark Mcghee's successor, with Craig Brown  and Archie Knox resigning from Motherwell  late on Thursday night, they look set to be announced as the new Aberdeen management team in the morning.

I am quite happy with the appointment as Brown is vastly experienced and is just the sort of man we need to steady the ship and build a foundation that can be built on in the future.

It would not surprise me if Paul Hartley was made part of the coaching staff and mentored by Knox and Brown as a possible future manager.

Brown and Knox did not have a contract at Motherwell so there will be no fee paid to Motherwell, although Motherwell are filing a complaint with the SPL about Aberdeen's conduct.
Another boost for Stewart Milne is that Craig Brown will not need a company car as he can just use his free bus pass. (Someone had to make an OAP joke)

So welcome to the good ship AFC Craig Brown and welcome home Archie Knox.

Okay  the Honeymoon is over, get to work lads.

Feel free to comment on your thought of the new Pittodrie Management team.

Stand Free