MCGINN HAS SOME CHOICE WORDS FOR DONS
Board must pick right man to make club a force again
NIALL McGINN has urged the Pittodrie board to get this managerial appointment right because Aberdeen should always be a big force in Scottish football.
That hasn’t quite happened in the Premiership this season as rather than chasing the European places, the dons are looking worryingly over their shoulders.
Barry Robson and Neil Warnock have come and gone and now they are looking for another manager, with Peter leven put in interim charge again.
The Reds are just three points off the relegation play-off spot – with second-bottom Ross County having the chance to draw level if they were to win in the Granite City this weekend.
That is alarmingly short of aberdeen’s expectations where former dons ace McGinn knows the demands are, to at least finish in the top four, qualify for Europe and to challenge for silverware.
He said: “aberdeen need to get the right man on board to take the club forward. the demands every season should be a minimum of top four, regardless of who the manager is or the group of players.
“It should be a given that it is top four and trying to win a trophy.
“You need to be competing and looking to finish above the likes of Hibs and Hearts every season.
“Yes, there will always be one or two teams who will surprise you each season like st Mirren, Kilmarnock and dundee are this season, but aberdeen should be up there qualifying for Europe.
“When i was there we got to Europe but it was harder to get into the group stage. You saw the team get into the Europa Conference league group stage this season.”
Aberdeen had claimed that they wanted to appoint a new manager before the winter break.
Regardless of whether there is a new man in place or not, McGinn knows this dons team need to dig deep and get a result against County because they can’t afford to be dragged into a relegation dogfight.
McGinn said: “as a collective team and a group of players they haven’t been performing week-in week-out and that is what aberdeen demands.
“I can only speak from my time there and we had the demands coming from the manager (derek Mcinnes) and the club itself of trying to go out to win every week.
“The players will be thinking like that but they are in a difficult situation.
“They need to pick up the wins. it is coming to the edgy part of the season and this ross County game is a big one. they just need to win.”
Aberdeen finished third last season under barry robson but it has disappointed McGinn that it has been the only season where they have finished in the top half since he left aberdeen.
It has changed from his time under Mcinnes, where every season the dons qualified for Europe.
Since then stephen Glass, Jim Goodwin and robson have all come and gone.
McGinn knows the board has supported all their bosses financially. He also believes aberdeen need to get away from the constant managerial merry-go-round.
The Glentoran star said: “Managers need time. You need to give them maybe 18 months because all managers go through tricky periods.
“Aberdeen have had three managers in a few seasons and you can see it is hard to get consistency.
“Each manager is coming in and they haven’t necessarily signed all the players and they will have different ideas and thoughts.
“It can be difficult for every boss but in fairness to the board they have backed their managers with the players they have brought in and the money they have spent.”