IT is difficult to see what else Derek McInnes can do to win over the doubters in his own fanbase. Aside perhaps, from taking Danish citizenship, calling himself Ebbe, chain smoking and making up cryptic quotations in his post-match interviews.
Aberdeen’s top-flight finishes in the three seasons they spent under the genial leadership to Ebbe Skovdahl were tenth (spared relegation as Falkirk’s ground wasn’t compliant), seventh then fourth, but in the main he was carried shoulder high out of the place.
Okay, so there were a couple of cup finals too, but former Skovdahl mainstay Kevin McNaughton said last night that the memories of those days should remind Dons fans that by comparison their current manager’s six-year stretch at Pittodrie goes down as halcyon days. As for disappointments in Europe like last week’s against Rijeka, McNaughton’s first start for Aberdeen came in a similarly humbling continental episode against Bohemians of Ireland back in August 2000.
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“Bohemians was my second game,” recalled McNaughton. “I had just turned 18 so I was just buzzing to be in the team but we lost 2-1 at Pittodrie. We went over there for the return leg and actually played alright, winning 1-0 - but we’d killed ourselves in the first leg. I felt I was doing alright myself so I wasn’t getting too much stick, if anything I was getting praise for playing under that sort of pressure.
“The Aberdeen fans were always good to me,” the former Cardiff man added. “They still remained fond of Ebbe too, I think that’s because he was such a character.
“Some of his quotes after games remain etched in the memory of most of the supporters and the players as well. Some of his team talks were great. He didn’t have a filter so he just said what was on his mind.
“His famous one was ‘statistics are like mini-skirts. They give you good ideas but hide the most important thing.’ Another one was ‘The operation was a success, but the patient died’ [when talking about Aberdeen’s tactics after a defeat to Celtic].
“In the dressing room he kept trying to say top trumps one time but just kept saying Trumphus. So when the lads went away on an end of season trip we got t-shirts made up saying ‘Trumphus Tour 2000’. The season before Aberdeen had finished bottom of the league but stayed up because Falkirk’s stadium wasn’t up to standard. That was Ebbe’s first season. But he brought in a lot of things that a lot of top clubs use now - like Olympic weights for training. Looking back on it now, Ebbe was probably ahead of his time in terms of his approach.
“We used to joke that he had a lighthouse in the corner of his office so you could find him through all the smoke. He liked to go for a fag. But he was big on diet, sports science for his players.
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“When you look at that it should make fans appreciate what Derek has achieved with what he’s had to work with. It’s never going to be level pegging with the Old Firm in terms of finances but he’s brought some success in terms of a League Cup win, multiple more cup finals and consistency in the league. Europe is a bonus in my opinion.
“Derek has done really well over the last few seasons and it’s always going to be difficult to replicate the success year in, year out. Especially when you are losing players every season. They’ve started the season poorly but it’s early days, they can get themselves back into it.”
**Kevin McNaughton was speaking at the Back Onside celebrity golf day to help raise awareness of mental health issues
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