From todays record.

 

QUOTE

Former Aberdeen boss Jimmy Calderwood opens his heart on his exit from Pittodrie.

 

I knew there was a problem when people at Pittodrie changed towards me. Instead of coming around my office, they stayed away and avoided me in the corridors.

 

For instance, I hadn't spoken a word to the managing director, Duncan Fraser - a guy I used to go for a drink with - for two months.

 

And I knew that two directors were plotting behind my back to get me out. After the worst result in my career, the defeat by Queen of the South in the Scottish Cup semi-final last season, I'm certain one of them briefed the media that I was a dead man walking.

 

When we were knocked out the same competition by Dunfermline this season, this director never said anything to my face but told others we had to qualify for Europe or I would be sacked.

 

The other director ludicrously claimed the inconsistent results were caused by a lack of fitness.

 

LastTuesday, with the rumour mill in full flow, I asked for a meeting with chairman Stewart Milne to clear the air and tell him what was going on.

 

The great Rinus Michels once said to me that if there is a cancer within the club, you must cut it out. But within a minute, I knew there was a serious problem because he was not 100 per cent behind me.

 

He complained I was too critical of the players, that I changed the team too much and thatsometimes he couldn't understand my tactics.

 

Progress

 

I told him any criticism of the players had been said to their faces before I went to the media and they didn't have any problem and that teams and tactics were picked to suit the opposition and win games.

 

Surprisingly, Willie Miller also said he couldn't understand what I was trying to do in certain games and he mentioned a cup tie at Tannadice.

 

This was the one in which we trailed 2-0 at half-time and came back to win 3-2 so I must have done something right. As Aberdeen manager, I tried to win every match and won a lot more than I lost.

 

We have been top six every season, finished third once and fourth twice and qualified for Europe twice which I believe is real progress. We also made a £700,000 profit in the transfer market.

 

Our last campaign in Europe was a wonderful adventure that lifted everyone associated with the club and generated record turnover and a £2.7million profit.

 

By comparison, our record in the domestic cups was really poor and that is where I have been judged.

 

I always felt I was just one bad cup result away from the sack and that is no way to operate when your board isn't fully behind you.

 

The chairman said there was a board meeting the following day when my position would be discussed.

 

I said there was no need for a board meeting, it was his club and just get the severance cheques written.

 

When your bosses doubt your ability and your methods, it's time to go. It was all done very calmly. There was no shouting match but I still felt gutted that my five-year reign at Pittodrie was over. It was a sore one. My pride was hurt because I'd never been in this position before where my employers questioned if I was the right man to take the club forward.

 

They felt they couldn't sell enough season-tickets and that corporate hospitality would suffer if I stayed on. Fair enough, that was their decision.

 

But I insisted this be kept away from the players in case it affected them before the match with Hibs and cost the club a place in Europe.

 

The next few days were like walking through a minefield. Staff kept asking about contracts, pre-season plans, squad numbers and a thousand other things and I felt like a fraud because I couldn't give them an honest answer.

 

But everything worked out.

 

We beat Hibs with a superb performance to qualify for the Europa League and Jimmy Nicholl, Sandy Clark and I walked away with our heads held high.

 

Face to face, the fans were brilliant with me apart from the night a bunch of kids came to my house. My wife thought they'd come to get autographs but they were there to have a go at me.

 

It was the faceless cowards who went on to websites and phone-ins that did the real damage. Fan power is a new phenomenon in the game and every manager in the SPL, apart from Craig Levein and Billy Reid, have had to put up with unwarranted abuse.

 

I am proud of my record at Aberdeen considering the state the club was in when we arrived. There was little money to spend because of debts run up by previous managers.

 

Real quality such as Scott Severin, Stevie Crawford, Jamie Langfield, Lee Miller, Gary McDonald, Mark Kerr, Jamie Smith and Craig Brewster was brought in on free transfers.

 

Healthier

 

We also got Sone Aluko for a bargain fee and the kid, along with Miller and Langfield, will eventually go on to earn the club millions.

 

It's satisfying to me that the players who left, Russell Anderson, Markus Heikkinen, Kevin McNaughton, Michael Hart and Chrissie Clark, are all playing at a higher level.

 

I often dream that if they'd all stayed, we might even have had a team capable of winning the league. But that could never happen and never will because Aberdeen, like every other club in Scotland except Celtic, have to sell their best players.

 

Aberdeen is in a much healthier condition than the day I arrived and it was the same story at Dunfermline. My successor will take over a team with the basics in place and a youth system producing talent such as Peter Pawlett.

 

I don't know what the future holds. I could have gone to England twice but didn't believe the clubs there were as big as Aberdeen and there were opportunities to return to Holland.

 

I plan to go and watch Manchester United, Barcelona and Arsenal train and expand my knowledge. It's a thing I've always wanted to do but have never had time to leave the job in hand. I will stay in football but you need to be asked first.

lol, it was time for a change. He has done an excellent at stabilising the team but I think we need someone new to freshen things up.

lol, its time for a change. He has done an excellent at stabilising the team but I think we need someone new to freshen things up.

 

Are you living in last week? This has already happened. 

Edited

Are you living in last week? This has already happened. 

 

Actually, we haven't got anyone in to freshen it up yet

 

On a side note - are you considering a new username?

if Mcghee gets the job his new username will also be a former singer who is an actor now and was in the Dirk Diggler film.

On a side note - are you considering a new username?

 

Yeah, I knew that this username would have a limited life. But its been a good five years, and we've achieved a lot. There has been highs and lows, yadda, yadda...

 

if Mcghee gets the job his new username will also be a former singer who is an actor now and was in the Dirk Diggler film.

 

Someone has already suggested I change it to that, so if MMG gets the job my new name will be MarkyMark. 

That's a cool name, I might change mine to that name.

That's a cool name, I might change mine to that name.

 

Or save yourself some time and just delete your account