McGlee For Dons

ABERDEEN have today officially announced that Mark McGhee is the new boss at Pittodrie.

The former Motherwell gaffer will take his Fir Park assistant manager Scott Leitch with him to Aberdeen after compensation between the two clubs was agreed over the last few days.

The new management team's first official day in charge will be Wednesday, 1st July when the players report for pre-season training.

The 52-year-old former Dons forward will join up with fellow Gothenburg legends Willie Miller, Jim Leighton, Neil Simpson and Peter Weir at the Pittodrie club in an exciting new era for AFC.

Dons legend and Director of Football Willie Miller is delighted to be reunited with his former Pittodrie team-mate.

He said: "The Board was unanimous in the choice of Mark for our new manager, as everyone knows, these situations can be extremely delicate and you have to allow for all eventualities.

"That said, we're delighted Mark and Scott have agreed to join us and with the return of European football next month, these are exciting times here at Pittodrie.

"Mark is well known to most Aberdeen supporters and of course, having been here as a player, he also knows what the club means to them and he's itching to get started."

The Dons are the seventh club McGhee has managed - the same number of clubs that made up his playing career.

McGhee said at the weekend: "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."

McGhee becomes Aberdeen's 21st manager, replacing Jimmy Calderwood - who, along with assistant Jimmy Nicholl, restored respectability and consistency to the Dons after a decade in the doldrums.

The new boss played 164 games for the Reds between 1978-84, scoring 63 goals. He also played for Morton, Newcastle (twice), Hamburg, Celtic, IK Brage and Reading.

Astonishingly, he only gained four Scotland caps in his career, all while he was with the Dons, despite scoring every second game at international level.

McGhee would appear to be the Dons fans' first choice for manager, with an article by Aberdeen-Mad contributor Tubilay recently describing him as "an excellent choice".

The article continues: "Not only has he got a long lasting affinity with the Aberdeen supporters and years of experience, but he appears to be everything that Calderwood wasn't: understated, articulate and relatively humble.

"His preference for an attacking 4-3-3 formation will win him many admirers, and his willingness to field a settled team will doubtless encourage where Calderwood infuriated."

There are question marks over whether McGhee will improve on Calderwood in two key areas however.

McGhee's cup record throughout his career is at least as woeful as Calderwood's was at Aberdeen, with an even higher percentage of KOs to lower-league clubs, and only one semi-final appearance - Calderwood managed two, as well as a final with Dunfermline.

Calderwood also came under fire from Dons fans for his apparent lack of media skills and criticism of the fans, but earlier this year McGhee incurred the wrath of the Motherwell support when he stated in the press that he doesn't "give a monkey's what the fans think" following supporter criticism of tactics during a game.

But at other times McGhee has said many good things in the press, such as when asked, with Motherwell sitting in seventh place in the SPL heading towards the split, if he thought the team could reach the Top 6, he replied: "I still think we can reach third place".

It is that sort of ambition and drive that many Dons fans believe has been missing from the management at the club in recent years, and clearly the club agrees that McGhee is the man to bring that back.

This is a fresh start for both club and manager, and Mark McGhee has the full backing of everyone here at Aberdeen-Mad and the rest of the Pittodrie faithful.

Good luck Dingus!