Logan: Gers and Celts have cheek to moan about money
Logan reckons Old Firm shouldn’t moan about Euro rivals’ cash – and insists Dons are third force
SHAY LOGAN reckons Rangers and Celtic have a cheek moaning about the financial muscle of their Europa League rivals.
The Aberdeen defender accepts Steven Gerrard’s side, like Neil Lennon’s, are now at a different level in terms of having cash to splash in the Premiership.
The Dons won’t give up the domestic fight but Logan knows it will now take something special to finish in the top two.
Logan has no qualms about the Old Firm being able to buy big but reckons it is a case of double standards when they complain about the spending power of their European rivals.
The Dons full-back said: “They have good money behind them but we have no debt, we’re a very well run club.
“If they can spend £7million on a winger (Ryan Kent) let them do it.
“Rangers and Celtic have the means and the funds. I support Man City and they can do it as can Man United and Liverpool.
“I just think it’s funny they can go and play the likes of Porto or Valencia in the Europa League and use it as ‘oh but’. It works both ways.”
Aberdeen had been Scotland’s second force up to last season where they slipped behind Rangers and Kilmarnock. They are looking to finish at least in the top three this season but as it stands are still trying to leapfrog Motherwell.
Aberdeen beat the Steelman last month and have cut the gap to just one point with Logan confident the Dons will be Scotland’s third force.
He said: “We want to finish as high as we can but we know one or two will be hard due to the teams from Glasgow. If third is the best we can do then we want to finish third.
“Motherwell are there at the moment and having a good season but with no disrespect to them we
believe we are a better team than they are. But we have to get results.
“They are getting the results and it looks like being a good fight but in the long run we believe we will surpass if them if we keep doing the things we do.”
Aberdeen have recovered from the dismal 4-0 defeat by Celtic and have returned with back-to-back league wins for the first time this season.
They beat Hamilton midweek and followed that up with a resounding win over Kilmarnock.
The Rugby Park men were without a recognised central defender and Aberdeen made them pay. Derek McInnes went 4-4-2, sending out Sam Cosgrove and Curtis Main to gun Killie down. And they did precisely that.
Aberdeen took the lead when a great cross from Lewis Ferguson picked out Main to net a diving header. It was a welcome goal for the frontman to finally open his account for the Dons – netting his first since February.
Kilmarnock employed midfielders Iain Wilson and captain Gary Dicker at centre-half but were exposed when Cosgrove got away to head in from a well-worked corner.
That was effectively game over. Dicker could have pulled one back at the end of the first half but Joe Lewis managed to save with his face.
Cosgrove then had two claims for penalties when he went down under challenges from Stephen Hendrie and Wilson before he limped off with a groin problem McInnes claimed was nothing serious.
A determined Ferguson run almost resulted in a goal but his shot was deflected and ended up hitting the bar before Aberdeen wrapped it up.
Connor McLennan’s corner was knocked on by Greg Leigh where Scott McKenna volleyed in – with what was Aberdeen’s 200th league goal against Killie. Logan said: “It was a sore one to take against Celtic but we needed to bounce back and have done that with six points out of six.
“I feel raring to go and can’t wait to go and hit Ross County.
“A reaction was needed as last weekend wasn’t good enough and the manager let us know that.
“Nine points out of nine was a real possibility and we’ve taken six following two good performances so hopefully we continue up at County.
“Celtic are a good team but they are a team which, if you give them a head start, you don’t catch them.
“Had we got to half-time at 2-0 down we might have given them a game in the second half but we were sloppy, lost two more goals and it was game over. We have to take responsibility for that and hold our hands up.
“We always work on different things depending on who we play. The manager always likes to do some sort of shape whether it is Celtic, Ross County, St Mirren or Rangers.
“Everybody knew what we needed to do against Celtic and nobody did it so to respond with two clean sheets and two wins is good.”
Logan also thinks Aberdeen will get even stronger when they move into Cormack Park full-time.
He said: “It’ll only do the team good. It’s a great facility and can only attract players.
“People maybe didn’t want to come here because there weren’t facilities but now we have one which puts us up there against anyone.”