ABERDEEN are set to announce that Mark McGhee will sign a two-year contract as the new manager of Aberdeen this week.
The Gothenburg legend is set to complete the move north once compensation has been agreed with Motherwell, who are entitled to around £200,000, according to today's Sunday Herald.
It is thought that McGhee will take Motherwell assistant manager Scott Leitch with him, and could make out-of-contract Motherwell midfielder Stephen Hughes his first signing to replace exiting Dons captain Scott Severin.
The news yesterday that Celtic are due to overlook McGhee in favour of former Hibernian boss Tony Mowbray to replace Gordon Strachan led Aberdeen to pounce quickly.
The Dons directors had been waiting for the managerial merry-go-round, sparked by managerial departures at Celtic and Hibs as well as at Pittodrie, to settle down before making their move.
And as soon as Dons chairman Stewart Milne was clear on the Celtic situation, he approached Motherwell counterpart John Boyle for permission to speak to McGhee.
That was granted and it is believed that McGhee held talks with Aberdeen director of football Willie Miller his former team-mate.
McGhee said: "There is compensation to agree but the talks were encouraging.
"For me, there is an element of sentimentality attached to the Aberdeen job. This is an opportunity to manage a club where I had fantastic success and memories as a player.
"So there is an element of 'going home' about the Aberdeen job for me and I quite like that."
CaddyCarhandle looks at Mark McGhee's key achievements and overall records from his managerial career:
Reading:
> Appointed summer '91
> Gained promotion to 2nd flight in 3rd season
> Highest place, 2nd in 2nd flight
> Moved to relegation-threatened Leicester (Premiership) Dec '94
Time in charge - 3.5 years
Record: P183 - W79 - D51 - L53
Leicester:
> Took over with Leicester adrift in relegation zone
> Unable to escape drop finishing 2nd bottom
> Left for Wolves less than 12 months in charge, Dec '95
Time in charge - 1 year
Record: P51 - W16 - D14 - L21
Wolves:
> Took over from Graham Taylor in '95/96
> Briefly took Wolves to play-off spot before slumping to 20th
> 1996/97, finished 3rd in 2nd flight, lost in play-offs
> 1997/98, made FA Cup Semi-Final, finished 9th in league
> 1998/99, sacked in November after falling behind in the promotion race
Time in charge - 3 years
Record: P159 - W65 - D39 - L55
Millwall:
> Appointed in Sept '00 after almost 2 years out of game
> Won League (3rd Flight) in first season
> 2001/02, finished 4th in 2nd flight, lost in Play-Offs
> 2002/03, finished 9th in 2nd flight
> Oct 2003, left Millwall
Time in charge - 3 years
Record: P163 - W75 - D39 - L49
Brighton:
> Joined in Oct '03, 13 days after leaving Millwall
> Won Promotion to Championship in first season
> Avoided relegation by 1 point in second season
> Relegated to League 1 in third season
> Sacked in Sept '06
Time in charge - 3 years
Record: P139 - W40 - D38 - L61
Motherwell:
>Appointed in June '07
> Takes M/well to 3rd in first season
> Makes shortlist for Scotland job in Nov '07
> May '08, turns down approach from Hearts
> June '09, appointed Aberdeen boss?
Time in charge - 2 years?
Record: P88 - W35 - D17 - L36
