The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
On-loan player believes Aberdeen will be in good shape next season
Aberdeen defender Mark Reynolds believes the SPL split has wrecked the Dons’ season.
The on-loan Sheffield Wednesday centre back admits the Pittodrie side has nothing left to play for after failing to get out of the bottom half of the division.
The supporters seem to agree with just 5,281 at Pittodrie for Wednesday’s 2-1 defeat against Hibs, with more than 1,000 in the away end.
The best the Dons can finish is seventh and the former Motherwell player is no supporter of the split and said: “When I first arrived we were doing well and had a very good run, but we missed out on a top six place and it is horrible.
“It ruins the season and personally I've never been a fan of the split”
It ruins the season and personally I've never been a fan of the split because the season finishes in April if you're sitting in the bottom half of the table.
“At one point we were challenging for sixth place and as soon as the split comes, you're gone and the 15 points left to play for are irrelevant because the best you can hope for is seventh place.
“If you took the split awayyoucould stillbechallenging for a European place, especially with those places having dropped down a couple of spots because of the circumstances Rangers found themselves in.
“There's never been a good argument in my eyes for the split.”
Reynolds is preparing to depart the Dons in the summer and return to Sheffield Wednesday, who are hoping to clinch promotion to the Championship with victory against Wycombe Wanderers today.
Reynolds will be keeping a close eye on his club and he believes Aberdeen will bein decentshapenext season.
He said: “The club is in a safe pair of hands with the gaffer and Archie who are trying to move the club in the right direction and there are a lot of boys leaving in the summer and they'll try and bring in some new faces.
“I don't think that's a reflection on the players who Aberdeen have no fresh injury concerns for their Scottish Premier League game against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park today.
Manager Craig Brown will still be will be leaving. It's just that sometimes you need to freshen things up and hope it brings a change of fortune,” said Reynolds. without several players, with Rob Milsom, Clark Robertson, Stephen Hughes and Yoann Folly still absent.
Peter Pawlett is also set to miss out once more.
“The manager knows the blend he needs to get and is slowly getting there with experience players mixed with the young players coming through at
Reynolds hopes to get his chance back at Hillsborough under new manager Dave Jones.
He added: “One of the main reasons I went to Sheffield Wednesday was because it is such a massive clubandthe consensuswas that they would be promoted sooner or later. So, it was always inmy thoughts that they were a Championship club.”
Pittodrie.”