Is realism better than optimism?

Cast your mind back to that long forgotten summer of 2009. Mark McGhee was appointed manager and in between sounding quite bitter about not getting the Celtic job, he seemed rather upbeat at the task facing him.

“Given the present environment, the club is in a healthy state, with good young players, who have the potential to get better.

They have finished in fourth position for the last two seasons and we have European football again; it’s a good time to come to Aberdeen.”

McGhee even informed the Scotsman that silverware was not out of reach for the Dons.

The comments at the start of the season are fine.

The club is trying to sell season books, the manager wants to get the fans behind him, get some positive vibes around the club and maybe even encourage a few players that the Red Revolution is worth joining.

No one is likely to have any problem with these comments at all.

However, you have to accept that making these comments at one part of the season may cause you problems later on.

Mark McGhee currently has a different outlook on life at Pittodrie.

“The circumstances which have put us on course to finishing outwith the top six have been mostly outwith my control.

It would be grossly unfair if my position was in any danger.

My brief when I arrived was to stack the squad with young players and bring about change over a prolonged period. That includes bringing in new players and changing the mentality of some of those already here.”

It is almost as if football clubs, players and managers think all of the fans are stupid.

In a way, we all are!

Brand loyalty to the highest degree, accepting whatever comes your way and we keep coming back for more. Who can blame clubs for behaving in this manner when there are such strong bonds tying the fans to the club.

It doesn’t make it right for a club to behave in this way though.

Eventually, enough will be enough. Fans are falling out of love with the game at a stronger rate than ever before. Not to get all politics or social commentary on you here but is there a breaking point coming soon?

Do clubs need to show a greater degree of honesty and transparency to their fans?

This is not a pop at McGhee, he doesn’t need us lining up to have a go but it can be seen that the same situation occurs at football clubs everywhere.

Fans have expectations anyway, is it right for managers to inflate them as it will only leave people crashing down?

We’re not too sure, if you have a negative outlook, it is likely to result in negativity around you but there has to be a touch of realism about it all.

Do you think Mark McGhee has helped his current situation?

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