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ABERDEEN
All season, Mark McGhee's Aberdeen has struggled to score, struggled to break down stubborn opposition, and seemingly struggled to implement the gaffer's new philosophy. This has led to frustration from the fans, and presumably from the sidelines too.
Hidden amongst last week's headline-grabbing criticism of the supporters, McGhee was at pains to point out that he is in this for the long term and his plan will take time to come to fruition. That won't sell newspapers though, and neither will obvious statements about not playing players who aren't fit enough for four games in 11 days. Set the headline generators to 'spin'!
One thing that is obvious is that McGhee has been working with players purchased to implement a very different philosophy, and he needs his own men in. And startling evidence of this exploded from nowhere in the last couple of league matches, where the Dons scored a quarter of their entire season's tally in a pair of rollercoaster games against two of the top three clubs in the division. What has changed in the last two weeks? For one thing, Steven MacLean and Jim Paterson - players McGhee has been desperate to bring in since August - have hugely aided the new boss's attempts to transform the team from athletic to dangerous; from one-dimensional to multi-faceted.
OK, the history books will record that the last two SPL results were merely two more draws in a season with not enough wins, but the signs are finally here that there is a new man in town, and there could be exciting times ahead.
See the condensed version of this article and those from other SPL clubs' fans at: http://sport.scotsman.com/newsfront.aspx?SectionID=14223, and in The Scotsman newspaper every Wednesday during the season.
