Jimmy Calderwood should be advised to leave Aberdeen while his reputation remains intact - and while he still has a choice. The supporters' anachronistic superiority complex flared up again at Hampden Park on Saturday after witnessing another calamitous cup exit against lower league opposition.
The same followers who heralded a nostalgic 2-2 draw against Bayern Munich at Pittodrie made the melancholic journey north bereft of the scarves that were launched disapprovingly towards the trackside in a symbolic gesture of revolt.
Calderwood has been inexcusably implicated in two unedifying traumas since replacing Steve Paterson. After last season's humbling CIS Insurance Cup defeat to Queen's Park, then of the third division, Aberdeen were again royally deposed by Queen of the South. Phone lines were a-buzz with fevered demands for Calderwood's resignation or sacking, whichever method is quickest. A mercurial working relationship with the club's director of football, Willie Miller, is hardly a source of reassurance to a manager entrenched in familiar drudgery.
Calderwood's mahogany glow gave way to a transparent pallor after his latest ordeal. He was rendered speechless by the diabolical defending that enabled Queens to take the lead four times in an epic encounter. In truth, reaching the final would merely have papered over the cracks. Calderwood must now consider the wisdom of outstaying his welcome.
Aberdeen have downsized to the point of peril. They scraped into the top six in the final game before the split and will spend the rest of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League campaign watching with hopeless envy as Hibernian, Dundee United and Motherwell above them contest the last available UEFA Cup place.
Reaching two domestic semi-finals and progressing to the knockout stages of Europe's secondary competition should be regarded as a commendable feat for a team that is now forced to do their shopping on hire purchase at such renowned emporiums of talent as Birmingham City and Middlesbrough reserves. Aberdeen, who could afford to resist offers for Miller and Alex McLeish in the glory days, are resigned to selling assets to such heavyweights as Plymouth Argyle and Preston North End.
Consequently, Calderwood has become the focal point for the pent-up frustrations of a support that has demonstrated prodigious irrationality since Alex Ferguson left.
Alex Smith was sacked for losing a championship title on the final day of the 1990-91 season, despite winning the League Cup. Miller, Aberdeen's godfather, was binned in 1995 for the heinous crime of two second-place finishes and two losing cup finals. Aberdeen can historically lay claim to being the third force in Scottish football but, presently, an impoverished squad has probably punched its weight.
Only Barry Nicholson and Jamie Smith, whose career has been ravaged by injury, possess quality above the general mediocrity. For Calderwood, it may be as good as it gets. Stewart Milne has steadfastly refused to throw his property fortune down the black hole of Scottish football. The manager will simply not have the means to undertake the necessary clear-out he has threatened at various stages of a schizophrenic season.
He is not without blame for the toil endured. In Derek Soutar and Jamie Langfield, Aberdeen are saddled with two of the most erratic goalkeepers in the top flight, for which Calderwood has to accept blame, having signed both. Andrew Considine scored twice on Saturday but was a defensive liability. Zander Diamond does not live up to his hype. Jackie McNamara seemed an astute piece of business when he joined from Wolves, but he has never fully recovered from the knee injury sustained early in his Molineux career, or the psychological scars of leaving Celtic in acrimonious circumstances three years ago.
Calderwood may need to hit the road again to reinvigorate his career. Staying in Scotland will only expose him to similar financial constraints. He rose to prominence in the Dutch Eredivisie with NEC Nijmegen and his eccentric tactical strategy may be better suited abroad, or even the Coca-Cola Championship. His undoubted coaching capabilities and agreeable personality might also be better appreciated away from Pittodrie. And another thing . . . GORDON Smith has been voted the 65th most influential man in world football. One place behind David Beckham, the SFA chief executive will have earned his distinction when the second UEFA Cup slot is assigned to the fourth-placed team in the Premier League from next season. It has been a brave pitch by Smith to strip the sponsorless Scottish Cup, an SFA production, of the reward of a place in Europe. He has resisted vested interests within the SFA offices at Hampden Park but will be vindicated should Queen of the South find themselves in the embarrassing possession of a place in the UEFA Cup on the back of five games, only one against top-flight opposition.
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