http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5i6_pBdKe2J3bAUgwsWHb_WYqVCBw?docId=N0645331317223356088A

 

Jimmy Calderwood feels former club Aberdeen have struggled to replace the experienced professionals that have followed him out of Pittodrie.

 

Calderwood lost his job as Dons boss in May 2009 despite taking the club to the last 32 of the UEFA Cup and always achieving top-six status in the SPL in five years at the helm. The Dons have mostly been in the bottom half since with Craig Brown and Archie Knox struggling to improve the poor results under predecessor Mark McGhee.

 

He said: "I`ve not seen them but looking from the outside, which is always dangerous, I don`t think the quality of player they have brought in are as good as the quality of the ones who have left. A lot of experienced players, and winners, have left the club."

 

The second-bottom Dons, who have failed to score in seven out of nine SPL games this season, host Dunfermline on Friday night.

 

Calderwood said: "It`s a massive game for them now on Friday. They have Dundee United, Rangers and Celtic after that. The expectation would be top six at least and probably higher. If they do lose, it could be very difficult."

 

Calderwood appeared to pay the price for the high expectations at Pittodrie after failing to achieve cup success, but he does not believe the club`s past glory under Sir Alex Ferguson weigh down those now at the club.

 

He said: "I had that in the beginning but not in the end. But they do expect to get in finals and be high up in the league. And financially-wise, even though everyone is struggling, they are probably the fourth biggest team in Scotland.

 

"I think they should be doing better than they are but it`s easy to blame the manager all the time."

 

When asked if he would ever return to Pittodrie if asked to go back at any stage, he said: "I don`t think I would be asked.

 

"It broke my heart leaving, I love the club, I love the city.I would need to talk to a few people first and get a few truths from people."

 

 

You didn't want the fat cunt sacked? You found his reign acceptable? You found him acceptable? Jesus Christ. We have the club you deserve.

 

Outrageous even by your standards RS.  For an intelligent, middle aged man to come out with a statement like that, just unbelievable.

You didn't want the fat cunt sacked? You found his reign acceptable? You found him acceptable? Jesus Christ. We have the club you deserve.

 

Do you think we'd be in the same jam now if he was still here? I genuinely don't think so.

Wow.  Where to start on this thread.  Well i suppose a good place to start would be an observation on how the topic of Mr James Calderwood is still capable of inspiring such focused debate by aberdeen fans over two years after he left the club. 

 

I've made my opinion of JC clear on this forum on more than one occasion.  Put simply i think he generally did pretty well, signed some good players and produced a solid if fairly uninspiring team that underachieved on a number of significant occasions.  He talked an awful lot of shite in the media which a lot of aberdeen fans found embarrassing and did him no favours when results became poorer.  He clearly had his undroppable favourites (byrne mackie etc) and his tactical choices were questionable on more than one occasion.  He was initially backed well by the board but things went sour when they didnt back him in the transfer window after the copenhagen game. 

I maintain this was where things went wrong for him, keeping hart and clark and adding a couple of players at this point would have pushed us on to bigger and better for the rest of that season and the next.  Things started to stagnate and then with the likes of nicholson leaving to be replaced by casper we went into decline.  Unfortunately Calderwood was nowhere near a good enough coach or tactician to compensate for the drop in standard of player.  I see comparisons with harry redknapp as he's also fine as long as he has money to spend and clearly enjoys close relations with his players.  Its no secret that Joe Jordan is the brains of that operation though, a role Jimmy Nichol played at Aberdeen (theres a guy i would have back at the club in a coaching role in a second). 

I've mentioned before that a good pal of mine works at county, i asked him about Calderwood a few months after he got there.  The report i got back was quite condemning.  Familiar phrases of players starting regardless of performance and odd tactical choices were noticable.  This was added along with a general treating of contempt of non playing staff and most disturbingly the best left back at the club, Scott Morrison, was dropped because "he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth".  In short my pal, who is friendly, amiable and generally finds a good word to say about most, text me when he left saying "thank fuck that fat fucking orange cunt has left"  I found this very telling.

 

 

Do you think we'd be in the same jam now if he was still here? I genuinely don't think so.

I agree with you.

 

But this isn't the right way to look at it, is it? Comparing his reign with what followed doesn't increase his quality.

 

I don't, have never, will never "hate" a figure as patent as Calderwood, a self-confessed proddie hun, a less than intelligent man with self-discipline issues who made some bad mistakes, who's value of himself is unrealistic, a fool who frequently insulted the people of the region where I come from, a liar who says he loved the city yet fucked off at the first opportunity despite having nowhere else to go and who still doesn't have a job to go to. Hating people over fitba or allegiance is so yesterday.

 

The closest I get to "hate" with respect to football is what has happened to the club I once loved and followed passionately, the club I introduced my son to, the club that he supports and gets frustrated by more than I these days.

 

Folk on here who lament his passing aren't real Aberdeen fans.

Outrageous even by your standards RS.  For an intelligent, middle aged man to come out with a statement like that, just unbelievable.

In what respect? That I wanted him out (like most AFC fans who live in Aberdeen and shire) or that I called him a fat cunt?

There's some prize horsehit in this thread for sure.

 

JC did a decent job for us, clearly the best of a bad bunch we've had in the past few years/decades.

Like most managers, he ended up being sacked after results didn't match what was expected of the fans/board. there was also the issue of the style of play we adopted near the end of his tenure which was pretty poor.

 

what has happened to the club since means nothing in regards to Calderwood.

 

if anything, the man himself is probably glad now he got binned when he did, as it left a faint whiff of "what if" for him to cling onto, as opposed to if he'd stayed on and presided over our downward spiral to even deeper depths to the point where the JCMG campagin would been unanimous.

 

Folk on here who lament his passing aren't real Aberdeen fans.

 

That is absolute bollocks.

I agree with you.

 

But this isn't the right way to look at it, is it? Comparing his reign with what followed doesn't increase his quality.

 

I don't, have never, will never "hate" a figure as patent as Calderwood, a self-confessed proddie hun, a less than intelligent man with self-discipline issues who made some bad mistakes, who's value of himself is unrealistic, a fool who frequently insulted the people of the region where I come from, a liar who says he loved the city yet fucked off at the first opportunity despite having nowhere else to go and who still doesn't have a job to go to. Hating people over fitba or allegiance is so yesterday.

 

The closest I get to "hate" with respect to football is what has happened to the club I once loved and followed passionately, the club I introduced my son to, the club that he supports and gets frustrated by more than I these days.

 

Folk on here who lament his passing aren't real Aberdeen fans.

 

Am I missing something?

 

Why, in terms of football, did you want him to leave?

 

Obviously we can look at cup results but in terms of the big picture, surely we were a good team when he left?

That is absolute bollocks.

Yes, you could be 100% correct. I wouldn't want to get in an argument over this. However, it may serve to flush out some pro-JC sentiments on here?

 

Is this how it works? Folk ignore questions that don't suit them and continue on by picking up on something different?

 

Generalist non-specific stuff like "horseshit" fae the boy above is from the same school of non-communication.

You didn't want the fat cunt sacked? You found his reign acceptable? You found him acceptable? Jesus Christ. We have the club you deserve.

 

I personally thought he'd taken the club as far as he could, but I didn't have a problem with his weight.

Am I missing something?

 

Why, in terms of football, did you want him to leave?

 

Obviously we can look at cup results but in terms of the big picture, surely we were a good team when he left?

If you found the football played acceptable and you consider that to be a good team then you and I see things so very differently that I suspect we have zero common ground on anything.

You didn't want the fat cunt sacked? You found his reign acceptable? You found him acceptable? Jesus Christ. We have the club you deserve.

 

No, I'd suggest the people that wanted rid of JC back then, now have the club they deserve.

 

 

No, I'd suggest the people that wanted rid of JC back then, now have the club they deserve.

 

Aye but that's stating the obvious.

I personally thought he'd taken the club as far as he could, but I didn't have a problem with his weight.

Did you have any problem with the insults he delivered to people of the NE and also to AFC fans?

 

Do you agree that we had unrealistic expectations?

 

Was he right to say that we weren't "hard enough"?

 

Is the fact that we all have two cars on our driveways the reason we don't produce good footballers?

 

His blaming of everyone bar himself, was this good management in your book?

 

Were you proud of AFC under him?

 

His obesity is merely a symptom of his lack of self discipline.

 

Dedication to the truth is one of the four cornerstones of self discipline. His perception of truth is not real now as it wasn't then.

 

No, I'd suggest the people that wanted rid of JC back then, now have the club they deserve.

Another one flushed out by the provocative text.

 

There are some questions in my previous post I would invite you to respond to, plus an additional couple: -

 

Does the shambles post JC have any bearing on the evaluation of both his performance and the decision to bin him?

 

Was the granting of a contract extension good management? Given the lack of demand for his services, I would argue that it was madness.

Did you have any problem with the insults he delivered to people of the NE and also to AFC fans?

 

Do you agree that we had unrealistic expectations?

 

Was he right to say that we weren't "hard enough"?

 

Is the fact that we all have two cars on our driveways the reason we don't produce good footballers?

 

His blaming of everyone bar himself, was this good management in your book?

 

Were you proud of AFC under him?

 

His obesity is merely a symptom of his lack of self discipline.

 

Dedication to the truth is one of the four cornerstones of self discipline. His perception of truth is not real now as it wasn't then.

 

We can argue as much about this as much we want, but he is long gone and the bridges have been burned with the board - he is not coming back. We need to look to the future and how we can improve this club and not fall into the stereotype of Aberdeen fans harking back to the past.

If you found the football played acceptable and you consider that to be a good team then you and I see things so very differently that I suspect we have zero common ground on anything.

 

All I know is we had a team that for the best part managed to do well and be competitive in the league. There wasn't a team coming to Pittodrie that I thought we couldn't beat.

 

I agree, it was never really silky soccer but it was functional, winning football which is all that matters for me to be honest.

 

Did you have any problem with the insults he delivered to people of the NE and also to AFC fans?

 

Do you agree that we had unrealistic expectations?

 

Was he right to say that we weren't "hard enough"?

 

Is the fact that we all have two cars on our driveways the reason we don't produce good footballers?

 

His blaming of everyone bar himself, was this good management in your book?

 

Were you proud of AFC under him?

 

His obesity is merely a symptom of his lack of self discipline.

 

Dedication to the truth is one of the four cornerstones of self discipline. His perception of truth is not real now as it wasn't then.

 

 

I was born in the North-East and I've lived in the North-East for most of my life so I'd say I qualify as a local and yet for some reason I wasn't remotely offended that the comments you're talking about. Firstly because he was possibly speaking about one or two individuals and not everyone from the North-East and secondly because I tend to not believe anything I hear, see or read in the media.

 

I'm not sure what the context of him saying we had unrealistc expectations was to be honest but again I'd find it really hard to even pretend that it offended me in any way.

 

Anyway it's the glory hunting Weegie fakers that are the problem. 

 

I only have one car. Must work harder.

Poor wee Rocket getting all offended over what some blabbermouth has said.

 

Me?  I'm struggling to remember getting upset about anything he said back then and I'm still finding it difficult to muster up the least bit of hurt.

 

I'm sure if he were to read that you're calling him "fatty" as one of your reasons not to like him it would be water off a large, tanned back.

 

Sticks and stones.

 

You're not the non-Granny-kicking Chris Clark are you my precious little Rockette?

Me?  I'm struggling to remember getting upset about anything he said back then and I'm still finding it difficult to muster up the least bit of hurt.

 

I haven't got a fucking clue what he's talking about.  I am one of these people that rate managers by performances on the park and don't lose any sleep about comments to the press.  Some of the performances on the park under Calderwood were excellent, some were absolute rubbish.  I'm struggling to think of many/any excellent performances since he left, most have been poor, some have been average at best.

 

The ones getting upset are the ones who were wrong at the time, and are still wrong now. 

People need to move on, he's not coming back, and nor should he.    We need to get the current mess sorted out though.

Folk on here who lament his passing aren't real Aberdeen fans.

 

What is lamentable is a remark like that.

Jeeeesus!

 

Some of you here (and you know who you are) are responding like some stupid american TV teenager who's just lost her first boyfriend.

 

GET

OVER

YERSELS

Some of you here (and you know who you are) are responding like some stupid american TV teenager who's just lost her first boyfriend.

 

Probably, in no small part, to him being in your fridge

No

 

If he was there'd be nae food left in there (maybe other than vegetables( like Ricky))