Derek McInnes

[Don_Corleone]

I do think dm loved aberdeen fc hence him turning down 2 lucrative offers elsewhere. But I'm 100% happy there is now a change and hopefully we can mak a great appointment and push on and get success again.

Why did he love Aberdeen FC though? I'd guess because it was great money for relatively easy work - expectations within the board were easy enough to meet year on year - 4th place finish was obviously acceptable as that's what it's been the last 2 years. You could tell the difference once Cormack took charge, it was still great money, but the expectations changed and he obviously wasn't enjoying the pressure.

As I've said previously, I've nothing against him and wish him well - the first few years were good, but he got too comfortable and complacent and I think lost his hunger - he definitely didn't have the drive and enthusiasm to take us where the new regime claim to want us to be in the coming years. I'm not sure where he'll end up next, I suppose that will tell us a lot about him and about how he's really thought of in the football world and how his "achievements" have been viewed by other chairmen around the UK.

[The_Moog]

Why did he love Aberdeen FC though? I'd guess because it was great money for relatively easy work - expectations within the board were easy enough to meet year on year - 4th place finish was obviously acceptable as that's what it's been the last 2 years. You could tell the difference once Cormack took charge, it was still great money, but the expectations changed and he obviously wasn't enjoying the pressure.

As I've said previously, I've nothing against him and wish him well - the first few years were good, but he got too comfortable and complacent and I think lost his hunger - he definitely didn't have the drive and enthusiasm to take us where the new regime claim to want us to be in the coming years. I'm not sure where he'll end up next, I suppose that will tell us a lot about him and about how he's really thought of in the football world and how his "achievements" have been viewed by other chairmen around the UK.

Again, a fair summary Don.

I've said before, I think overall he did a good job - first 4 years certainly - and I wish him well, but we need to be clear on the fact that at no point did he ever over achieve in his 8 years.

Even the season we won a cup, we really should have won the Scottish cup too - completely blew that when it was ours to take.

Every league finish was only in the position that we should have achieved - or worse.

One cup win, given the state of most of the top 5 clubs over that period is in my view under achieving

Europe was also a big disappointment and the failure to ever progress past 3rd qualifying was base level expectations at best. I'd say it was under achieving.

It was clear for at least 2 - 3 years now that he had taken us as far as he was capable of doing. I agree Don that Cormack has clearly raised the bar with him regarding targets and expectations and DM's simply not been able to cope. Good on Cormack, if it was still Milne, we'd be stuck with the guy cruising along to hit his easy targets for years yet.

The other thing I'm utterly sick of is the constant references to where we were before he arrived. Yes we were pish, but that was purely down to having a football club that was completely mismanaged both on and especially off the park for the best part of 25 years.

Not being completely incompetent, and not completely fuucking up at your job, is not a reason to keep a football manager on once they have shown that they have reached the limit of their potential and abilities. That's where we were with DM.

Milne really needs to fuuckin go as well. The man's an absolute stain on the club and no good can ever come from having him hanging around. Come on DC, get that fuuckwit oot the door too.

The new appointment will tell us a lot about Cormack and the Boards ambitions (aye the US side of the board cause Milne would likely just appoint Sheerin, Robinson or something equally tedious and uninspiring).

This is their chance to make a statement so lets see what happens. For me "raising the bar" means:

Regular European group stage qualification - ideally Europa League but I'll take the new tourney to start with
Getting close enough to the uglies to be seen to be a genuine challenger
Regular wins over the uglies (aye every season) and no more spineless capitulations
Cup semis every year
Cup final at least once every 2 years
Cup win at least once every 3-5 years

None of that should be unrealistic. We wont always achieve it, but you've got to set the standards.

Oh, and off the park I want to see us try and lead a genuine push among the other clubs to look to change the whole structure and setup of the Scottish league. That would start to make up for Milnes disgusting spineless failure to back the removal of 11-1 voting. Until I see us trying to force genuine change to a system that is entirely designed to only support and perpetuate the unbelievably tedious two club duopoly, I'm frankly not interested if I'm honest.

Over to you DC...

[pieandbovrilman]

I do think dm loved aberdeen fc hence him turning down 2 lucrative offers elsewhere. But I'm 100% happy there is now a change and hopefully we can mak a great appointment and push on and get success again.

I’m nae so sure he loved Aberdeen FC , I think he did love the lucrative contracts SM gave him and the job security that went with it .
He knew he was almost untouchable after contrast compared to the 3 bottom six finishes prior to him joining and the fact he knocked back Sunderland and Rangers gave him more credit in the bank with the chairman.
Anyway it’s come to an end so let’s see who replaces him now and take it from there . This is Cormack’s chance to really endear himself to the fans , will he take it?

[Aldo1983]

Is he going to continue to live in Aberdeen since he loves it so much?

[Mason89]

You should ask him when you see him at the games. I assume he’ll still go, seeing as he loves the club more than any supporter

[Red Zone]

You should ask him when you see him at the games. I assume he’ll still go, seeing as he loves the club more than any supporter

The only time you will ever hear him utter the words "love" and "Aberdeen" in the same sentence ever again will be "I would love to beat Aberdeen" when he comes back here as manager of Dundee United/St Johnstone/Kilmarnock at some point in the future

[Bisconti's balls]

He loves the club and 100% he will watch as many games as he can on TV! And keep up with our results.. But this isn't the same love as life long fans have thats a different kind of dedication and love.

[its_a_goal]

Haven’t heard any mention of Russ Abbott, sorry Russ Richardson. I presume he’s staying given his terrific record at spotting potential signings

[Don Julio]

I’m pretty sure he loved his job, who wouldn’t with the wages, security, relationship with Milne, budget vs other clubs, etc.

And after 8 years as manager I’m sure he has come to love the club as embodied by the staff he worked with, the players, his interactions with the fans and some happy memories of nights such as Rijeka, LC Final, etc.

So I have no problem at all with him saying that. And it’s even possible such a long stint may even have taken the shine off his feelings for his boyhood club. I suspect he will look out for our results, although perhaps with an inevitable touch of schadenfraude if things go tits up.

He’s not like us. He’s not a lifelong Don and never will be. But I don’t have a problem with that. No-one would badger Alex Ferguson for saying the same thing with a similar background, accepting that the two ought not really be compared.

[ItzMillerTime_Dons]

Agree with most of that Moog ^

And when you break it down McInnes offered most of that for his first few seasons (which was a more impressive given where we had been).

We beat Celtic in the league and cup in 13/14, didn't in 14/15, twice in 15/16... Since then I think we've had 1 x win (and a last game of the season at that).

We beat Rangers in the league twice in 16/17, didn't in 17/18, once in 18/19 (plus wins in both cups). None since then.

We won the League Cup 7 years ago - but nothing since. We reached the 2017 League and Scottish Cup finals (so 3 finals in 4 years at that point). Then only the 2019 League Cup final in the (almost) 4 years since.

We reached at least 1 x cup semi every season apart from 2015/16.

In 15/16 I think we could definitely be said to be close enough to be genuine challengers (that weekend when Rogic scored a 90th minute winner vs. Kilmarnock then we (inevitably) threw away a 1-0 lead to lose at Motherwell still rankles)

In Europe we fell short - the good wins were too often followed up with a poor result - Karait, Maribor and Apollon are all ties you need to win if we expect to reach the Group stages. We almost always got knocked out in the round we were 'meant to' according to seeding.

A bit of a long-winded way of saying that I think McInnes easily met the realistic expectations of most Dons fans in his first 4-6 seasons (depending on how generous you are being) but it is undeniable that those 'standards' have slipped in the past few years.

The style of football is arguably a separate debate - there is no real right answer on this in my view but I would say we played a decent standard of football up until the end of the 2016/17 season.

The hope would be that from a much higher base a new manager can come in and achieve what McInnes achieved in his first few seasons as a minimum. I wish McIness all the best, would thank him wholeheartedly for everything he's done for the club and think it is unfortunate that he's been spirited away in the midst of closed doors games (and nil nil draws...) but the time for a change had probably been reached - whether that pays off or not is another story and depends on Cormack getting the appointment right.