a look ahead to Saturday’s programme
In this weeks redmatchday magazine issue 19:
Peter Pawlett
“It was a good experience for me. St Johnstone are a great club with a lot of good people and they are very well run, but it made me appreciate what we have here. There is a big gap between the teams off the pitch. It made me aware of just how big the potential at this club is, especially with the fan base we have.
“Aberdeen Football Club is a special place. There is a real family feel and everyone gets on. There is a real togetherness. I think Craig and Archie have done a great job in bringing stability to the club. They have brought in discipline and changed some things that needed changing. Everything is set up for the new manager. I’ve spoken to a few of the boys who played for Derek McInnes at St Johnstone and they only have good things to say about him. He brought them into the SPL and established them there, the boys there say they enjoyed playing for him and all commented on how good the training was, and the results they got speak for themselves.
“I have been at the club for four years now. I have been through three managers! I have always thought it was a good club and going on loan made me realise just that. Being away gave me the hunger to come back home and succeed here. There is a good squad of players and I am very confident next season we will do well under the new management team”.
Craig Brown
I am not normally an emotional person but it is with a genuine lump in my throat that I write my final programme article as Manager of this great Club.There are so many people to thank that it would take an additional supplement to do justice to the huge expression of gratitude which I feel.From the Chairman to the youngest ballboy everyone has been exceptionally supportive.In particular, the backroom staff, second to none in my experience, and the players, have been brilliantly dedicated and co-operative.
Most importantly, the famous Red Army has been superb to Archie and me.I have received hundreds of messages of thanks by e-mail, text, letter, card and phone. I do try to reply to every individual one, but it will take some time so accept my sincere thanks meantime in this programme.
Archie Knox
Saturday will mark the last appearance at Pittodrie as an AFC employee for one of the club’s most important servants, Archie Knox. RedMatchday’s programme editor, pays tribute to one of our greats
In 1980, Knox became assistant to Alex Ferguson at Aberdeen and it was this partnership that led Aberdeen to its greatest ever period. Whilst Sir Alex is credited with the success story, the role Archie and Teddy Scott played should never be underestimated. You only have to speak with any of the players who were at the club during the glory years to realise it was very much a team effort. All the Gothenburg guys have the utmost respect for him, a view that is echoed throughout the game.
Fans only ever judge a football club by what is happening on the park and understandably so, but success on the park can only come when all is well off it. The Dons are a family club, a club that has a special atmosphere and is a fantastic place to work. Before Archie returned, the club had lost its way. Archie has helped recreate the environment that is needed by the club to bring success. There were a lot of things that needed to be done – he brought back some much needed discipline and organisation.
With a little bit more luck this season, things on the park could have been very different.
Whilst his second spell at the club has not brought European trophies or Scottish Cups, the legacy he is leaving could be just as important in the years to come.
The first one in most mornings, he would normally be the last one out at night. Not one for the limelight, Archie enjoys working in the background, especially with the young players at the club. He also treated everyone at club the same, no matter what their position.
Derek McInnes
Aberdeen’s new boss Derek McInnes was a well travelled man during his playing career. Perhaps the most significant spell was south of the border at West Bromwich Albion where he skippered the team to a first ever promotion to the Premier League. Albion’s programme editor worked at the club during that time and was forever grateful to Derek for his willingness to speak to the programme in good times and in bad. Here’s his assessment of the new manager…
Albion hadn’t had a leader in 15 years, since the departure of John Wile. But from the moment McInnes took the armband, things were very different. He was a captain from the old school, somebody that all the players looked up to, someone who set the tone in the dressing room and on the pitch.
Compared with the Wolves team we overhauled in the final week, there was no way Albion should have finished above them. In the end, the difference was McInnes. He carried that team kicking and screaming over the line, dragged them into the Premier League when really, they had no right to be there. It was a monumental achievement.
Over the years, I’ve encountered and interviewed hundreds, thousands of footballers from, all levels, some of them the very greatest players in the game. None of them has been more impressive than Derek McInnes. Aberdeen are very lucky to have him.
Richard Gordon
Ahead of the announcement I heard and read some ridiculous comments from some Dons ‘fans’ and they are clearly going to take a bit of convincing, but Derek’s track record is on the whole a good one and I’ve spoken to plenty people within the game who hold him in high regard.
He’s still a relatively young manager, but has built his experience through his time with St Johnstone and Bristol City and brings a vitality and freshness that many Aberdeen supporters have been calling for. He also brings a first rate coach in Tony Docherty, another whose stock within football is high.
Russell Anderson
We are going into the final games with Craig and Archie in charge now too after the manager announced that he will be retiring at the end of the season. It’s good that Craig will still have a role on the board here at Pittodrie because he has such vast experience of the game, especially in this country, and it is important that that knowledge isn’t loss to us or to football in general.
I can only speak about the last 18 months since I came back, but during that time, I have only got good things to say about the two of them. They were great to me when it came to coming back here to get fit initially and since then, the amount of hard work and effort that they have put into the club has been second to none.
Craig Duguid
One of the most eye catching parts of watching the U20s this season has been the role both full backs have played in the side and their influence of the games. The two Craig Craig’s, Murray and Duguid, are both very much the modern day full back and are able to attack and defend in equal measure. Both are exceptional athletes and fantastic crossers of a football. RedMatchday recently caught up with the Aberdeen u20s left back Craig Duguid.
“Craig and myself are both quite fit so we are able to make the runs up and down the wing. I enjoy the position and particularly enjoy getting forward but it is important to remember that first and foremost I am a defender and must not neglect my defensive duties.
“Although I play on the left side I am actually right footed. I would take free kicks with my right I am equally at home using my left. When I came in at U17 level I was actually a centre half but was then moved to left-back.Michael Rose has been out injured the past couple of weeks so Neil has moved me back into the central defence alongside Scott Rumsby but I do enjoy the full back role.”
Plus all the usual features, articles and columns from all our football correspondents.
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