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Ian Porterfield. Alex Smith and Jocky Scott. Willie Miller. Roy
Aitken. Alex Miller. Paul Hegarty. Ebbe Skovdahl. Steve Paterson.
Nine good men and true and the nine men who have filled the manager’s
chair at Aberdeen’s Pittodrie Stadium since the legendary Alex
Ferguson, the man who took Aberdeen to domestic and European glory,
moved on to take control of Manchester United. Some have enjoyed
a modicum of success, others saw their reign blighted by a failing
team and falling support. None have ever quite managed to fill the
void left by Fergie’s defection down south.
Taking on that challenge is not for the faint hearted and each and
every man who has accepted the job must be commended on their courage
and their self-confidence, but is the manager’s job at Pittodrie
a poisoned chalice or a fabulous opportunity?
When it comes to manager number ten, Jimmy Calderwood, has no doubts
that the tradition should only be viewed as the springboard to a
brighter future rather than a millstone hanging around the collective
neck.
“It’s an honour to be a manager of a club like this one,
a genuine privilege. It’s got huge tradition going back a hundred
years but especially when you think of what was achieved here in
the 1980s. But what really makes it special though is the supporters.
When you look at the kind of following we can take with us to away
games, it’s magnificent. When you’re a player, that’s
all you can ask for. It is an added pressure but it’s the kind
of pressure you want, better that than the sort of scrutiny you
get at the bottom end of the league.
“That was a factor in drawing me here from Dunfermline where
things had gone well for me, but you don’t really appreciate
just how big a club this is until you become a part of it. We took
5,300 down to Tannadice in September and there were coaches being
turned away about 20 miles up the road because the police couldn’t
handle it! We took 4,000 to Hearts, 4,500 to Dunfermline, that’s
a great foundation if you want to try to bring success to a club.
And we know that it costs a lot of money to follow the team and
we’re always aware of trying to give people their money’s
worth. I know we’ve got supporters clubs in the west of Scotland
too but a lot of people travel from Aberdeen to the games too at
great expense and it is very much appreciated.”
Arriving at Pittodrie might be the culmination of a long journey
in the game for Jimmy, a journey which stretches back 30 years and
more and into a playing career that began in England in a Birmingham
City side that also featured the likes of Kenny Burns, Trevor Francis
and Bob Latchford. But a feature of all those years toiling away
as a full-back was Jimmy’s voracious appetite for learning
more about the game – here was acharacter looking towards the
future and a career on the other side of the touchline once he’d
hung up his boots for good.
“If you want to improve as a player then it’s important
that you keep your eyes and ears open and always look to improve.
If you’ve the right attitude, I think you can learn from everybody
around you, good things and bad.
“As a player I was lucky to work with some top managers including
Sir Alf Ramsey. He was special to work with during the spell that
he was in charge at Birmingham City. I don’t think I missed
a game for him which was great because as a Scot, I must admit I
was a bit wary when he came in. When he was the England manager,
he had the reputation of not being too fond of us Scots so I was
a bit worried!
“When he came in, I thought I was for it, we had to call him
Sir Alf, he was a wee bit intimidating I suppose, especially as
he’d won the World Cup for England! Childish stuff when you
look back now but he had such an aura about him. His man management
was magnificent, his organization was first class, he had good coaches
under him but he was the boss. It was just a joy for me to work
with him, he liked the way I played so that was a great time in
my career, to watch him at work.
“There were other great guys at Birmingham too. Freddie Goodwin
gave me my debut there and you never forget that, Willie Bell was
there as well. Later on, I had an argument with Jim Smith when he
took over, but that’s all water under the bridge now. I’ve
a lot of respect for him, the players he buys, the way he likes
his teams to play football. I was angry with him at the time, but
time heals and we talk a lot on the phone nowadays. If I ever need
any help, he’s always there to take my calls.”
After a lengthy career with Birmingham City, the chance to move
abroad and play in Holland was an opportunity that was too good
to turn down, especially as this was the era of total football when
the Dutch sides of Krol, Neeskens and Rep were changing the face
of the game. From playing, Jimmy moved into management and with
hindsight, he’s quick to admit that he couldn’t have been
in a better place at a better time to make that switch.
“Working in Holland gave me a magnificent education. It was
very difficult to get the qualifications before I was allowed to
work as a coach, you can’t just apply for a job and then start
work the next day! It took me seven years to qualify which was the
shortest period of time you could do it in back then, though I think
it’s been reduced to four or five years now. You have to invest
a lot of your time and an awful lot of your money as well –
it cost me about £25,000 in total – but it was well worth
it in the end. You work to a very high standard, you work with some
great people, you learn a lot about tactics, about man management,
you do media training, it’s like a university degree in football
management if you like and it was terrific for me to do that.”
Jimmy enjoyed great success in Holland and worked with some of the
game’s top names during that period including the likes of
Sami Hyppia and Jaap Stam, but he always had it in mind this his
exile wouldn’t be a permanent one.
“I always wanted to come back to Britain from Holland when
the time was right, though I didn’t think it would mean coming
back to Scotland to be honest, having spent all my playing career
in England. But the Dunfermline opportunity was a great one for
me as is Aberdeen now. It was a wrench to leave Holland, things
went well for me there, I had a good reputation, but the idea of
trying to blend the two styles of football was very exciting and
it was something that I really wanted to try. The mentality here
is much more about enjoying the game, about the passion of it all,
the excitement, whereas the Dutch are more interested in the tactical
side of it, it’s a mind game if you like. I want to get a mix
of the two together, the best of both worlds.”
Having enjoyed great success with Dunfermline, taking them to the
Scottish Cup Final and a place in Europe last term, huge achievements
for the East End Park team, it was the right time for Jimmy to move
on, leaving the club on a high after having perhaps taken them as
far as they could go. The lure of Aberdeen and the potential at
Pittodrie was simply irresistible and while Jimmy was confident
in his own ability to get the best out of the players at his disposal,
even he is thrilled at the way things have gone so far.
“That’s an understatement! Obviously the club was down
in the doldrums a wee bit over the last ten years really, but you
mustn’t forget that this is a very big club with huge potential
and one where the supporters expect to be nearer the top of the
league than the bottom.
“Coming in, the fixture computer wasn’t very kind to us
with the games that we got first up this year, against the teams
that finished second, third and fourth last season, but the results
that we’ve got from those games have been encouraging and it’s
been a very, very good start and we have to be pleased with the
way things have gone.
“The attitude of the players has been first class. They’ve
been very receptive to what we’re trying to do, they’ve
worked hard throughout pre-season. We’ve got a lot of young
lads in the squad but they’re fit and strong, they’ve
applied themselves magnificently particularly when you consider
they were low on confidence after last season. But they’ve
taken everything on board which is good to see as a manager. There’s
a buzz of expectation around the place again, among players and
supporters and that’s a big step in the right direction.
“Signing Scott Severin from Hearts and then Noel Whelan was
a statement of intent if you like and I think it did send out a
message to the rest of the SPL that we are serious about wanting
to move forward this season. Severin has played for Scotland seven
or eight times now, he’s a very good player, was a big figure
in an excellent Hearts team that finished third last time, and that’s
the stature of player that we want to get in. Then we had the opportunity
to get big Noel in as well. His impact will be a big one once he’s
100% fit and he gets over the few niggling injuries he’s had
since he joined us, but he’s already made a big impact in the
dressing room so he’s already been a great addition. There’s
a lot to be done and we don’t want to get carried away, but
we’ve made a decent start.”
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