Mark McGhee has had a tough time since he took over at Aberdeen.
Unable to bring in the players he wants, getting off to a poor start in Europe as well as in the League, he’s certainly been thrown in at the deep end.
In his search for a squad with which he can survive his first season at Pittodrie, a raft of trail players came and went. A few survived – Jerel Ifil will be joined by Italian defender Davide Grassi who signed on Saturday, while goalkeeper Stuart Nelson joined from Norwich.
None of these signings, while needed, have been particularly impressive, but given McGhee’s limited budget it is probably the best that Aberdeen can achieve at the moment.
In the last few weeks, there have been hints emanating from the club that players will need to be sold before new players – expensive players – can be brought to Pittodrie. In particular, Zander Diamond has been linked with moves to Celtic and Charlton Athletic, while Lee Miller has been a target for Hearts and Middlesborough.
That none of these transfers eventually took place, with Celtic denying interest in Diamond and both Hearts and Middlesborough dropping their pursuit of Miller, it was perhaps at first sight not unsurprising that Aberdeen announced the departure of former player and former goalkeeping coach, Jim Leighton.
When I first heard the news, I was shocked, but then emotion gave way to reasoning. Leighton, a long time servant of the club was probably an expensive overhead, the wages saved in his departure going towards the funding of better players. Leighton, one of the heroes of Gothenburg, and a veteran of the great Ferguson years fell on his sword for the good of the club.
But today it’s emerged that Leighton did not leave, but was sacked by the man with whom he was part of that great period in the club’s history.
It’s a hard call to have to have made. Leighton, like Willie Miller and Mark McGhee, is a legend at the club. 382 appearances in two spells for Aberdeen, covering a period from 1978 to 2000, his playing career coming to an end in the Scottish Cup final of 2000, when an injury after 3 minutes ended his participation.
Leighton followed Ferguson south to Manchester United in ‘88, but his spell there was a largely unhappy and forgettable one, resulting in a rift between the two men that Leighton to this day will not reconcile. He had spells at Dundee and Hibernian, before returning to Aberdeen in ‘97 to resume his playing career.
A regular in the Scotland line-up and a member of the Scotland Football Hall of Fame, Leighton was easily the best keeper Aberdeen ever had (and that includes fan favourite, Theo Snelders).
Following his testimonial against Middlesborough in 2000, Leighton took up his position as goalkeeping coach. He was instrumental in bringing in French keeper Betrand Bossu, who joined the Dons after being released from Walsall. While the French shot-stopper had a good game against Rangers in one of the few appearances he’s made in the first team, that McGhee doesn’t rate Betrand Bossu is obvious when he brough in Stuart Nelson from Norwich as cover for Jamie Langfield.
Possibly this error of judgement on Leighton’s part, coupled with the possibility that Nelson was brought in over Leighton’s head may have lead to this decision. As a new manager looking to stamp his authority on the club, McGhee had decided he can do better with another goalkeeping coach/scout.
Somewhat unhappily, there are unsubstantiated rumours circulating the Aberdeen fans forums that Willie Miller refused to sack Leighton, resulting in a stand-off between Miller and McGhee. That McGhee won is clear, but, if true, does this signal the start of differences between the board and the management, and off-field distractions that affect on-field performances?
Time will tell, but whatever happened, it’s a mark of the man who took this brave decision, one that’s sure to fire up emotion from the older section of the Aberdeen support.
But at the end of the day, Aberdeen cannot afford to get sentimental about this. The club needs to move forward, and ‘legend’ status does not, and should never, guarantee anyone a job for life.
Are you reading this Willie Miller?
Related posts:
- 1860 Munich 1-0 Aberdeen
- McGhee to Aberdeen. At last.
- Preview: Falkirk v Aberdeen
- Aberdeen puncture Hull (1-0)
- Aberdeen sign someone (at last)
Tags: Aberdeen FC, Bertrand Bossu, Jim Leighton, mark mcghee, SPL, Stuart Nelson, Willie Miller
Well if Leighton was sacked he must surely have had a clause in his contract which would result in compensation handed to him.
McGhee looks to be bringing his YES men from Motherwell to Aberdeen, imo I would have stuck with Leighton – was a great keeper bags of experience to pass onto Langfield and has the club at heart. Then there is this guy coming from Motherwell – allegedly – who is he? Exactly a nobody who has not played at the highest level and cannot fall back on years of good and bad experiences to help the keepers at Aberdeen. Its looking more and more farcical as the day goes on.
Calderwood wad paid £400k, but he had a few years left on his contract; Leighton’s was up soon according to reports, so he may not cost us that much. McGhee is building •his• team, around people he trusts, and with whom the club can grow. If that is not what he can expect from Leighton, than for the sake of the club he had to go. Simple as.
Like I said in the article, legend or not, nobody has a God-given right to be a permanent fixture at that club. That goes for McGhee as much as it did for Leighton and as it should do for Willie Miller. If this Motherwell guy can do us a job, great. There’s better coaches out there than Leighton.