The picture of Kev on the back of the P & J today is a poignant reminder of how many lights years away AFC are from having a Scotland international.
Severin and Anderson were the last AFC players to represent the team at full level (that I can recall) and the former was a long time ago and unlikely to ever get back there again, and the latter is no longer with us and not looking like getting back any time soon.
Of the current squad, Diamond, if he cuts out his howlers and makes similar progress to this year, is a prospective international in the future.
Surprisingly, Lee Miller, may be the only other possibility, however remote this may be.
Looking at the rest, forget it. Clangers was quoted once for the Scotland squad. I nearly vomited with disgust at the very notion.
So, for a club that used to supply the national team with a number of players, including the rocks that were Leighton, Miller and McLeish - we must've had many games where we had at least four Dons in the team, with many more international squad players over the years - we now have none.
Worryingly, we're not even looking like employing or developing international calibre players. Why?
I know for (almost) certain, that Phil McGuire was the highest paid player at AFC at the time he was got rid of, at £2k pw basic. I thought he was a good prospect at the time, and couldn't understand at the time why Calderwood was making noises in the press that seemed to suggest that his future at AFC was going to be limited.
Similarly, the handling of McNaughton was another one that I could not understand. Not only was he being played out of position regularly by JC, being utilised as a midfielder and worse, in an attacking midfield role, to accomodate Byrne at the time, but JC was also making noises about Kev's limited future at AFC for reasons unknown.
Now that Kev has been deemed good enough for his country, where no-one from AFC is even remotely close, either JC can not spot a player's potential, or most likely, he's operating within restraints imposed upon him from above.
Assuming it is the latter, then how can our chairman honestly say that the priority for AFC plc is "the product" - the football on the park? He promised Aberdeen shareholders and fans that this would always be the priority of the club, but the evidence of results, and a squad that is getting further and further from international class, progressively, during the whole decade+ that he's been in charge, suggests that "football affairs" are not his priority.
There has been a chronic lack of investment in the player pool. Even a couple less non-productives at Pittodrie would provide increased resource to attract a really good international class player, or at least the quality of young player with potential. The results over Milne's years are evidence enough of mediocrity, now entrenched in the culture of AFC plc, but the McNaughton example proves a complete lack of ambition from the board.
Like McGuire, I would bet that Kev was got rid of for financial reasons, not football ones. If it was football reasons, then it doesn't say much for our management team, but I believe the problem is higher than JC. He was moved on because we wanted to reduce the wage bill, and fuck what the fans want.
The picture of Kev on the back of the P & J today is a poignant reminder of how many lights years away AFC are from having a Scotland international.
Severin and Anderson were the last AFC players to represent the team at full level (that I can recall) and the former was a long time ago and unlikely to ever get back there again, and the latter is no longer with us and not looking like getting back any time soon.
Of the current squad, Diamond, if he cuts out his howlers and makes similar progress to this year, is a prospective international in the future.
Surprisingly, Lee Miller, may be the only other possibility, however remote this may be.
Looking at the rest, forget it. Clangers was quoted once for the Scotland squad. I nearly vomited with disgust at the very notion.
So, for a club that used to supply the national team with a number of players, including the rocks that were Leighton, Miller and McLeish - we must've had many games where we had at least four Dons in the team, with many more international squad players over the years - we now have none.
Worryingly, we're not even looking like employing or developing international calibre players. Why?
I know for (almost) certain, that Phil McGuire was the highest paid player at AFC at the time he was got rid of, at £2k pw basic. I thought he was a good prospect at the time, and couldn't understand at the time why Calderwood was making noises in the press that seemed to suggest that his future at AFC was going to be limited.
Similarly, the handling of McNaughton was another one that I could not understand. Not only was he being played out of position regularly by JC, being utilised as a midfielder and worse, in an attacking midfield role, to accomodate Byrne at the time, but JC was also making noises about Kev's limited future at AFC for reasons unknown.
Now that Kev has been deemed good enough for his country, where no-one from AFC is even remotely close, either JC can not spot a player's potential, or most likely, he's operating within restraints imposed upon him from above.
Assuming it is the latter, then how can our chairman honestly say that the priority for AFC plc is "the product" - the football on the park? He promised Aberdeen shareholders and fans that this would always be the priority of the club, but the evidence of results, and a squad that is getting further and further from international class, progressively, during the whole decade+ that he's been in charge, suggests that "football affairs" are not his priority.
There has been a chronic lack of investment in the player pool. Even a couple less non-productives at Pittodrie would provide increased resource to attract a really good international class player, or at least the quality of young player with potential. The results over Milne's years are evidence enough of mediocrity, now entrenched in the culture of AFC plc, but the McNaughton example proves a complete lack of ambition from the board.
Like McGuire, I would bet that Kev was got rid of for financial reasons, not football ones. If it was football reasons, then it doesn't say much for our management team, but I believe the problem is higher than JC. He was moved on because we wanted to reduce the wage bill, and fuck what the fans want.