Can McGhee turn it around at Aberdeen?

09th Nov2010

Can McGhee turn it around at Aberdeen?

by WeKnowSFA

Is it a case of when rather than if for McGhee?

With two tough games this week against Inverness Caley and Rangers, there may be a parting of the ways sooner rather than later.

Then again, many think the man that presided over the Dons worst ever defeat should already be gone from the Pittodrie hot-seat.

There is a precedent here with Ebbe Skovdahl presiding over an Aberdeen team that took many thumpings from Celtic. 5s, 6s and 7s were fairly common but the circumstances were a bit different.

Celtic were considered a far stronger team then, at least in expenditure and star names, whereas Aberdeen were largely reliant on youth. A myth has developed around Skovdahl about being the manager that gave youth a chance and then reaped rewards in the long run.

In all honesty, Skovdahl had no alternative to play the youngsters; that was all the players he had at his disposal. This provided Skovdahl the time to mould the squad together and allowed him the opportunity to bounce back from heavy defeats.

That and he seemed so likable with his cheery quips and enthusiasm about life.

McGhee though, his press conference on Monday made him like a man on the edge…as well he should.

Losing Paul Hartley was a big blow as he appears to be the main man at Aberdeen but even still, a 9-0 defeat should not be happening for Aberdeen in the SPL. Certainly not against a team who also played with ten men for over half the match.

The response and reaction is very important at Pittodrie tonight. Will the fans rally behind the team and management? In all likelihood, they’ll sit back and see how the team starts.

There is hope for Aberdeen, a few years back Celtic took 7 off St Mirren only for the Paisley team to defeat the Glasgow side in the cup a week later. Teams can bounce back from big defeats but Aberdeen haven’t had a lot of time to get over the defeat.

The dressing room chat will be about how it is good to get a game so quickly to get it out of the system but without a proper focus on returning to the basics, Aberdeen may struggle tonight.

The game tonight is so important that Saturday at Ibrox is almost meaningless (at least for now). There will likely be Aberdeen players who weren’t born the last time the Dons won at Ibrox, so that’s not a proper barometer of success or failure for a Dons boss.

In the words of Neil Young, Tonight’s the Night for Mark McGhee. Feel free to swap Neil Young for any other singer who has a song with that line it….it doesn’t change the importance for McGhee.