Leaderboard

Nobody in the media - social or otherwise - seems to have a clue about what’s happening or where we are yet, as usual, there are folk all over the place getting worked up into a frenzy. Much better to take however long is necessary to get the right guy than to rush into something to appease the fans. In an ideal world, the technical director or whatever we’re calling it should be coming in first or at least at the same time, having had an input into the manager. The team will be - relatively - fine with Leven in the short term as over the last few games we’ve been much better defensively so will hopefully pick up enough points to keep county and the rest of them at bay.

I'm not sure how it compares to other leagues in this regard (probably similar), but the club is mainly unattractive for reasons outwith our control. There is such a low chance of success up here because of the absolute domination of two teams. The cups are largely a lottery, as has been shown this century (our only win coming through the luck of the draw, for the most part). I doubt that there are many people looking at Naismith at hearts just now, for example, despite a good season (and he's only in that role because the other options were pish). There's also a weird myth that up and coming young foreign managers will come to Scotland in order to get seen down South, as if there are clubs bigger than us who are somehow unaware of the locations from which we fish for managers in the 21st century. As a stepping stone, we're not really an attractive option, as if you're good enough for Aberdeen already, then the English championship clubs that you will attract if you do well will already know about you. It took McInnes a good few years of sustained success to be offered a job, with even clubs like West brom going through about 80 managers without testing their club legend. Alex Neil was the last manager I can think of that actually stepped up from a club lower than the Dons to one higher (Tam Courts went to Honved, but probably not a step up from us). Most managers come here, do badly or do well, then get sacked or move sideways. Taking Aberdeen back to third place would barely raise an eyebrow. Consistently doing it for three years might get Sunderland to take a punt on you. If you're coming to Scotland, then you're far better off going to a smaller club, where the ceiling is a bit higher and there's a good chance to outperform your budget by several league places (like Martindale). Even then, yer Martindale's and Robinson's don't seem to get much traction. I've said it many times before, we should approach our managerial appointments in the same way we do players. Get the backroom in place, with heaps of support, and promote within - preferably - or get young managers from in Scotland or elsewhere. Make it very clear that this is our approach so that fans are less quick to scream at them (although it's not unusual to hear people screaming at our young players!). I just don't believe that we're an attractive club to any manager that is at a club close to us in size, and in order to get someone we'd end up paying a ridiculous amount. Even after that point, we'd still have the lottery of the transfer window, which has an outsized effect on our season (more so than manager in my opinion). I believe that all three of our managers would have greatly benefited from an experienced technical guy above them, who'd have steered them away from the repeated mistakes they all kept making (Glass playing out from the back, Goodwin playing Ramadani in the hole, Robson playing Clarkson similarly (but for different reasons). Obviously, the difficulty would then be in getting the technical guy right and retaining him, but I'm guessing that there are many out there who can combine the psychology and football knowledge without wanting the upheaval that comes with management.