I'd tend to agree with the notion that JC did steady the ship. Under Alex Miller, Heggarty, Skovdahl and Paterson, Aberdeen FC was gradually weakened and weakened and weakened as a whole. I'm of the belief that JC brought back stability, brought back an element of pride, and actually made clubs fear Aberdeen once again. There were times in the late 90s/early 2000s when some clubs loved playing Aberdeen as it was a surefire 3-points.
Under JC, we became a lot tougher to beat and restored the idea of us being a "massive" club, as so many players seem to put it.