I will shut my ears to it if people take that attitude...
McGhee won’t be fazed by any abuse from Dons fans
Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me
AS a man of many clubs, Mark McGhee cannot afford to get too touchy about the reception he receives while vi si t i ng old haunts or attempting to defeat former teams; a degree of stick comes with the vast territory covered in his playing and managerial career.
Ahead of today’s return to Pittodrie, then, the Motherwell boss — back in his second stint at Fir Park — sees no reason to worry about a few boos, jeers or catcalls from Aberdeen supporters.
Infamously abused by Motherwell fans when he was the Dons boss, Scotland assistant manager McGhee declared yesterday: ‘You know, I don’t care. I’m proud of my record as a player at Aberdeen. I didn’t have a good time there as a manager.
‘Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me. So onwards and upwards. I’m going there as Motherwell manager and I’ll shut my ears to it if people choose to take that attitude.
‘I’ve been back with Scotland and it was fine. Now I’m going back with Motherwell.’
Of more concern to McGhee is the on-field threat from a team currently on a four-game losing streak, something he expects to see broken soon enough.
Insisting that the Dons team built and led by Derek McInnes might soon be right back in the title race, he said: ‘Aberdeen have done brilliantly. I worked in Bristol at the same time as Derek and I have a lot of time for him.
‘I think he has done a great job and they’ll be a very difficult team for us to play against, regardless of their recent results. Eventually
they will stop losing — and we have to guard against us being the team they stop losing against.
‘I wouldn’t describe them as vulnerable. Certainly not to us. I think it’s a real challenge for us, particularly at Pittodrie.
‘As f or a title challenge? If Aberdeen win their next eight games — like they did the first eight — they’ll be right back in the title race.
‘Celtic have shown they’re not invincible this season — we saw that again last night (against Molde). Derek will feel that it’s not got away from them yet.
‘So, as soon as they get back in winning ways, he can start to talk again about a challenge.
‘I still think Celtic are always going to be favourites for the title. If Aberdeen only run them close, as they did last year, it will still be a fantastic achievement.’
McGhee can r elate to t he groundswell of public opinion demanding that Aberdeen mount a serious challenge to the reigning champions, with his own early experience at Motherwell first time around — when the goal was to split the Old Firm — providing an understanding of the pressures.
Addressing McInnes’ reluctance to talk about actually winning the league, he said: ‘ There would be people saying he was being ridiculous if he came out and said they could beat Celtic to the title.
‘I think they can certainly have a go at it — but that doesn’t mean you need to talk about it. Derek is taking the right attitude, playing it down and getting on with the job. It’s very difficult when you look at the squad Celtic have and the ability, financially, to go in January and strengthen any weaknesses or areas where they have had injuries.
‘Celtic can go into that window and make a couple of signings.
‘Aberdeen? Well, Derek will have spent most of his budget in the summer building that squad, so I don’t think they’ll have a lot of scope for change. Celtic are always at an advantage.’
Whether Motherwell are able to contribute to Aberdeen’s recent slump is another matter, although McGhee is at least hopeful of seeing some improvement in the second game of his second stint at the helm.
Having a spent a full week working with his new charges, he said: ‘They know change is needed. But the defensive record is the fourthbest in the league, so it’s far from embarrassing.
‘We do have to find a way of scoring more goals and that’s what we’ll be working on — while maintaining that defensive record.
‘If we can stay fourth in the league on defence and be the fourth-best scorers, that will be us in business and we’ll move up the league.
‘So we want a balance. We don’t want to be a team who suddenly start losing goals while trying to score more. We must stay difficult to beat — but give ourselves a chance of punching back.’
Meanwhile, Aberdeen midfielder Kenny McLean admits his side’s confidence and self-belief has been dented by that shock run of four straight defeats.
Five points clear at the top of the Premiership after winning their first eight matches, the Pittodrie men can return to the summit — for 24 hours at least — if they beat Motherwell.
But to do so, they must arrest the alarming, unexpected slump created by the loss of 11 goals in four matches.
‘We know the results haven’t been good enough or what we wanted lately but we are determined to turn that round as soon as possible,’ said McLean.
‘There’s no doubt we have been surprised by the run of results given the quality we have in the squad. It’s hard to put your finger on exactly what has been going wrong but the players know they haven’t been playing to their potential.
‘Confidence is a big thing in football and, of course, it was high when we were winning all of our games at the start of the season — but it’s taken a dent recently.
‘We just have to look at the results and performances from earlier this season to see how well we can do.
‘ You don’t l ose that ability overnight. I think we are dipping below the standards we set ourselves and it’s up to the boys on the pitch to get us back to that level.
‘Our preparations have been brilliant this week and we are ready for Motherwell.’